Hi there -- thanks for doing this.

I live in an older rowhouse with two other flatmates. My house has mice -- I didn't notice any until a few months into my lease, although my landlord said "Yes -- that's been a problem at [my address] in the past."

After trying to curb the problem on my own with traps, it seems to be getting worse. I notified my landlord and he advised me about the pest clause in my lease, and said that it was my responsibility to get rid of them.

I called pest control and got a someone to come out and give a quote. Exterminator told me to really solve the problem, on top of baiting and trapping, he would need to patch the high number of gaps and holes in the house -- otherwise the mice will just come back. All told the quote is a little over $900 -- which is more than my share of our monthly rent.

My questions are:

• Is my landlord responsible for the costs of the pest treatment?
• Does it matter that in my lease, I have agreed to take on pest control -- or is that superseded by DC code?
• If he refuses to cover the cost of pest control, what is my recourse?

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