How do I document pests for my landlord?

Build a simple file: dated photos, what your traps caught, the signs you found, and a log of every sighting and every message. It turns “I think there are roaches” into something a landlord, a pest controller or an official body can act on.

If a pest controller found nothing and now nobody believes you, this is for you. One visit is a snapshot. A month of dated evidence is a pattern, and patterns are much harder to wave away.

The checklist

• Photos and video with dates. Your phone stores the date. Get something in the frame that shows where you are, such as the sink or the skirting board. A short video at night with a torch shows activity better than any still.
• Specimens. A dead insect in a sealed bag or small jar, labelled with the date and the room. Keep it in the freezer. Never handle mice or rats, alive or dead.
• Monitor trap counts. Sticky monitor traps for insects, set along walls in the kitchen and bathroom. Check them on the same day each week and write down adults and young ones separately. See how to use monitor traps.
• Signs. Droppings, egg cases, shed skins, chewed packets, small blood spots on sheets. Photograph them before you clean. Our page on droppings and egg cases shows what to look for.
• A sighting log. Date, time, room, what you saw, which photo goes with it.
• A contact log. Every message, call and visit: date, who, what they said. After a phone call, send a short email: “Thanks for the call today. As discussed, you will send someone by Friday.”
• Every pest controller’s report, in writing. Ask for a copy each time.
• The source, if you can see it. Old boxes in the loft, rubbish in a shared hallway, a gap behind the pipes. Photograph it from your side.

What a useful log looks like

Example lines, to copy the format:
12 Oct, 23:10, kitchen. Two adult cockroaches under the sink. Photos 1 and 2.
14 Oct, trap check. Under sink: 3 young. Behind fridge: 1 adult.
15 Oct, emailed the agent with photos and trap counts. No reply.
22 Oct, chased by email. Agent says pest control will come on 28 Oct.

Short and boring is perfect. Nobody needs your feelings in the log, only the facts. You can put the feelings in the message.

Traps first, or treat now?

For insects, put monitor traps out first and read them for a week or two. You get a baseline, evidence for your landlord, and a way to tell later whether treatment is working. Monitor traps do not end an infestation on their own, so they are a measuring tool, not the fix.

Hold off on sprays and foggers before an inspection. They scatter cockroaches into the walls and leave less for a pest controller to find, which is one way a “no evidence” report happens.

Kids and pets: monitor traps are for insects only. Put them behind the fridge or cooker, not on the open floor where a child or pet could find them. Never use glue traps for mice or any other animal.

When they say “no evidence” or “it’s your job”

If the pest controller found nothing, send your trap counts and photos to the landlord and ask for a second visit, with monitors left in place or a check in the evening when cockroaches are active. One young cockroach on a trap is a dated sign of breeding nearby. See what to do when you find baby cockroaches.

If you are told pest control is your responsibility, ask which clause says so, in writing. Evidence still matters: if it shows the pests come from a neighbour, the loft or the structure, that can change who should deal with it. If you are ignored, take your file to the council or environmental health, the housing authority or tenancy board, a tenants’ union, or Citizens Advice in the UK. Our answer on what to do when your landlord won’t act has the steps.

Keep it safe

Copy everything off your phone each week, into a cloud folder or by emailing it to yourself. Name files by date. If your phone breaks, your evidence should not go with it.