Renting? Whose problem is the pest?
You have found rats in the roof, or cockroaches in the kitchen, or a wasp nest under the eaves, and the first question is not what to spray. It is who pays. In a NSW rental the honest answer comes down to two things, cause and timing, and it lands more even-handedly than either a tenant or a landlord usually expects. This page sorts the common cases plainly, so you know where you stand before you ring the agent.
It comes down to cause and timing
NSW does not have a single line that says pests are the tenant's or the landlord's. What it has is a principle, and once you know it most cases answer themselves. A landlord has to hand over a home that is reasonably clean and fit to live in, so a pest that was already there when you moved in is theirs to fix. After you move in, it turns on why the problem happened. If it came from the building, disrepair, damp, a gap that lets pests in, it stays with the owner. If it built up from how the home was kept, rubbish, spills, food left out, or a pet you were allowed to keep, it points to the tenant.
That is the whole test: was it there at the start, and what caused it. NSW Fair Trading puts it plainly, that a tenant may not be held responsible where the infestation was not caused by their activities or lack of cleanliness. When the two sides read it differently, Fair Trading is the referee, not the loudest email.
We work for tenants and landlords both, so this is written straight down the middle. It is general guidance to help you sort the usual cases, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading your own lease and the Fair Trading pages linked at the foot.
The cases we actually get asked about
Nine real situations, and where each one usually lands. Usually is the operative word: the reasoning matters more than the label, because a fact you leave out can move a case from one column to the other.
Rats that were in the roof before you moved in
A pest that was already established when you got the keys is part of the home not being handed over reasonably clean and fit to live in. That makes it the owner's to fix. Report it to the agent in writing and it is on the record from day one.
Mice or rats getting in through a gap, a broken vent or disrepair
Where the building lets pests in, the fix is the building, and that is the owner's. Fair Trading uses this exact example: a hole in the wall that lets in pests is a landlord's repair, not a tenant's housekeeping.
Termites: mud leads, hollow-sounding skirting, flying ants indoors
Leave it undisturbed and book a licensed inspection. Do not spray or break open the timber; disturbing a lead can scatter them deeper into the house.
Termites attack the structure itself, which is the owner's asset and the owner's responsibility. Tell the agent the same day, in writing, so the inspection and any works are ordered promptly. This is the one to never sit on.
A wasp or European wasp nest in the eaves, a wall void or the yard
A nest in the building or on the grounds is part of maintaining the property, so it usually sits with the owner. Treat it as urgent for safety, especially near a doorway or where someone in the house reacts to stings, and report it straight away rather than trying to knock it down yourself.
Cockroaches or ants that built up around rubbish, spills or food left out
Keeping the home reasonably clean is the tenant's side of the deal, and a problem you fed is a problem you caused. This is the clearest tenant case there is. The good news is it is also the most fixable, once the food source is gone and the harbourage is treated.
German cockroaches in an old block that were in the walls before you arrived
Cause decides this one. If they were living in the shared cavities and travelling between units before you moved in, that points to the owner or the strata, because you did not cause them and cannot reach where they live. If the population grew out of your own kitchen, it points to you. In a block it is often a building-wide job, not a single unit's.
Fleas because you kept a pet
A pet you were allowed to keep is a pest you brought in, so a flea treatment is usually yours. If the pet lived indoors with written consent, the lease very likely also makes an end-of-lease flea treatment a condition, and that one is owed even if you never see a flea.
Bed bugs brought in on secondhand furniture or luggage
Bed bugs travel in with people and their belongings, so an infestation that arrived with a secondhand couch or a suitcase is generally the tenant's. Where they have come through from an adjoining unit it gets murkier, and that is a case for reporting and for Fair Trading to weigh, not for assuming.
Silverfish or general pests in a cupboard or subfloor that stays damp
Follow the moisture. Damp that comes from a building fault, a leak, blocked subfloor vents, rising damp, leans to the owner, because the fix is the building. Damp from storage habits or poor airflow you control leans to you. Sorting the moisture usually settles both the pest and the argument.
General guidance for the Hunter's usual cases. Your lease and NSW Fair Trading decide any individual dispute; the references are at the foot of the page.
Working the two questions
When your situation is not on the list above, run it through the same two questions in order. Timing first, because it settles most cases before you even get to cause.
Was it there when you moved in?
A home has to be handed over reasonably clean and fit to live in. A pest that was already established at the start is the owner's to fix, full stop, regardless of what you did afterwards. This is why the first week matters: note anything on the condition report and, if you see signs later that read as old, say so early. A problem you flagged on day one is very hard to hang on you.
What caused it, the building or the living?
If the answer is the building, disrepair, damp, a gap, a structural nest, a pre-existing colony, it points to the owner, because the repair is theirs. If the answer is the living, rubbish, spills, food left out, a kept pet, poor airflow you control, it points to the tenant. Most honest cases sort cleanly on this one question once you are truthful about which it is.
If it sits in the middle, put it in writing and talk first
Long tenancies and general upkeep produce genuine grey cases, and often the fair outcome is a shared one. A calm, dated message to the agent that describes what you have seen and asks who is arranging the treatment settles most of these before anyone needs a ruling. Keep it factual, keep the reply, and you have both a record and, usually, an answer.
The one pest job with a form attached
If you kept a pet, end-of-lease pest control is the case that trips renters up most, because it is owed by the paperwork, not by the flea count. Under the NSW pet rules a landlord can attach an end-of-tenancy fumigation to the consent that lets you keep the animal, but only where the pet is a mammal that lived indoors. A cat, a dog or an indoor rabbit is the classic trigger; a fish tank or an outdoor-only dog is not.
Where that condition is written into your consent or lease, the treatment is owed at the end of the tenancy even if there is not a single flea. That is the price of the yes you got on the pet. The agent is not asking for proof there were fleas; they are asking for proof the condition was met, which means a receipt from a licensed operator on the bond file.
If there was no pet, or the pet only ever lived outside, that condition generally cannot be required of you. When an exit checklist demands it regardless, ask the polite question before paying for something that may never have been owed.
The full end-of-lease walk-through: timing, the receipt, the agent copy →
Whether it is yours or not
The steps are much the same from either side of the lease. Get them right and most pest questions in a rental never become a dispute at all.
Report it in writing, dated
An email or a message through the agent's portal starts the clock and becomes your record. Describe what you have seen and where, and ask directly who is arranging the treatment. A phone call that no one wrote down is worth very little a month later.
Do not sit on an urgent one
A termite find, a wasp nest by the door, or rats chewing wiring are safety and structure, not housekeeping. Report those straight away whoever ends up paying, and for termites leave them undisturbed until a licensed inspection has looked. Waiting turns a manageable job into a bigger bill for someone.
Keep the receipt either way
Whoever pays, a treatment done by a licensed operator with proper paperwork is what settles a bond, a reimbursement or an argument. A licensed receipt names the property, the date and the work done. A photo of an empty hardware-shop can does none of that.
If it is disputed, use the proper channel
NSW Fair Trading runs a free dispute-resolution service, and the Tribunal decides what it cannot settle. There are set processes for urgent repairs too. Follow them rather than withholding rent or quietly arranging your own tradesperson outside the process, because doing it your own way can leave you wearing a cost you assumed the landlord would cover.
The owner's side, plainly
What is yours. The condition of the home at the start, the building and the grounds, and anything that flows from disrepair or damp. A tenant reporting a pre-existing or structural pest is reporting a repair, and moving on it quickly is cheaper than a Tribunal reading your delay as neglect.
What is theirs. A problem a tenant caused through how they live, and the end-of-lease flea treatment when written consent covered an indoor mammal. A general lease clause does not shift a start-of-tenancy or structural pest onto the tenant; cause and timing still decide.
How we make it simple. We do the job for either side and send the receipt and any report straight to your file, and a whole rent roll's changeovers can run through one contact. Ask about portfolio work →
Asked by tenants and agents
The agent says all pest control is my responsibility. Is that right?
Not as a blanket rule. A lease clause cannot override the requirement that the home is fit to live in at the start, or shift a structural problem onto you. It can cover pests you cause through how you live, and the end-of-lease flea condition. For anything else, cause and timing decide, and Fair Trading is the referee if you disagree.
There were rats when I moved in. Do I have to pay?
Usually not. A pest already established at the start is part of the home not being handed over reasonably clean and fit, which makes it the owner's to fix. Report it to the agent in writing, and if you can, note it on the condition report in your first week so the timing is not in doubt.
Can I just get it treated and take the cost off the rent?
Be careful here. There are set processes for urgent repairs and for disputes, and withholding rent or arranging your own tradesperson outside them can leave you out of pocket. Report the problem, give a reasonable chance to fix it, and use Fair Trading if it stalls. Do not go quiet and DIY a bill you assumed was the landlord's.
I rent a unit and the cockroaches come from next door. Whose are they?
Murkier, and often not simply yours. If they live in shared cavities and travel between units, you did not cause them and cannot reach where they nest, which points away from you. In a strata block it can be a common-property matter for the building rather than any one tenant. Report it and let the timing and cause be weighed.
Do I have to pay for the end-of-lease flea treatment?
If a pet was kept indoors with written consent and the lease set fumigation as a condition, then usually yes, and it is owed even with no visible fleas. No pet, or an outdoor-only one? Then the condition generally has no force. The end-of-lease page covers the timing and the receipt in detail.
Does a treatment mean I get my bond back?
No, and we will not pretend it does. A licensed treatment with a receipt settles the flea condition, one line of the ledger closed. Everything else the bond covers, the clean, the garden, the keys, sits between you and the agent. Worth having; one box ticked, not a guarantee.
- NSW Government (Fair Trading), Pests or vermin in a rental property. The core of the split: the landlord's responsibility at the start of a tenancy, the tenant's where the problem arises from their activities or lack of cleanliness, and the rule that a tenant may not be responsible where they did not cause it.
- NSW Government (Fair Trading), Keeping a pet in a rental property. The end-of-tenancy fumigation condition a landlord may attach to pet consent, valid only where the animal is a mammal kept indoors, and binding even when there is no infestation.
- NSW Government (Fair Trading), Ending a residential tenancy. Cleaning obligations at the end of a lease, and how bond claims are made and disputed.
- NSW EPA, Pesticide licences. Pest treatment around a home is licensed pesticide use in NSW; this is the scheme behind the licensed technician and the receipt an agent relies on.
Tell us what you have seen
A description and a suburb is enough. A licensed technician reads every enquiry, works out what the job needs, and comes back with a straight answer and a free quote. No obligation, no pressure.