A private tenant in a mid-terrace in the West Midlands has seen rats in the kitchen and under the floorboards. She first told the landlord by text in January. The landlord sent a pest control company once, in February. The rats returned within two weeks.
By March she has photos, two pest-control invoices (she paid the second one herself after the landlord refused), and a diary going back three months. She calls Support for Tenants.
The triage call covers two routes. First, a civil disrepair claim under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985: the infestation is a failure to keep the structure and sanitation installations in repair. Second, the Magistrates' Court route under Section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990: an active rat infestation is a statutory nuisance.
Support for Tenants helps her send the mandatory 21-day written notice to the landlord under Section 82. This triggers new urgency. The landlord arranges a structural survey and blocks the entry point. Rats are gone within a month.
The civil claim continues through a panel solicitor on a no-win-no-fee Conditional Fee Agreement, covering compensation for the months of infestation, the cost of the pest control she paid herself, and damage to food and belongings. The civil claim settles.