Wasp nest in a shared building: landlord’s job or mine?

In many places the usual pattern is that the landlord, freeholder or managing agent looks after the shared parts of a building and its repairs, while a tenant may be expected to handle pests inside their own home. A nest in a broken communal skylight is more likely to sit on the building’s side of that line, but check with the right body rather than assume.

Whoever ends up paying, two things are true today. You should not tackle the nest yourself. And you can make your flat safer while it gets sorted.

Who to ask

• In the UK: Citizens Advice for your rights, and your council’s environmental health team if the landlord does not act on a problem that affects your home. Some councils also treat wasp nests, sometimes for a fee.
• Elsewhere: your local tenancy board, rental tribunal or housing authority, or a tenants’ union.
• Your tenancy agreement: check what it says about repairs, shared areas and pests. Local law may say more than the contract, so check both.

Report it in writing today

1. Write to the landlord or agent by email or through their official portal, not only by phone. Say where the nest is, that wasps are getting into your flat, and the date you first noticed.
2. Ask for two things: the nest treated by a professional, and the broken skylight repaired so it does not happen again next year.
3. Attach dated photos taken from a safe distance, and a short log of when wasps came in.
4. Mention anyone at higher risk: someone allergic to stings, young children, or anyone who cannot easily get away from a wasp. It changes how urgent this is.
5. Ask when they will act, and keep a copy of everything you send and receive.

If nothing happens, follow up in writing. A clear, polite record is your strongest tool if you need to involve the council or a tenancy body later. How to document pests for your landlord has more on what to keep.

Leave the nest alone: a skylight means height, ladders and a nest that will defend itself. Keep children and pets away from it. If someone is stung and gets swelling of the face, lips or throat, has trouble breathing or feels faint, call emergency services straight away.

Keep your flat closed off meanwhile

• Keep windows near the nest shut, or fit fly screens.
• Close the gap under your front door to the shared hallway with a door sweep or draught strip.
• Seal small gaps round pipes, vents and light fittings inside your flat. See sealing gaps.
• Do not block the hole the wasps use at the nest. Trapped wasps look for another way out, and that can be into the flats.
• If one gets in, open a window, close the door and leave the room for a while. Do not swat it.
• Tell your neighbours. Others may have wasps too, and a joint report carries more weight.

If the landlord is slow

Wasp nests grow through the summer, so delay matters. If the landlord does not reply or act within a reasonable time, contact the body for where you live. In the UK that is usually the council’s environmental health team. For the wider picture, see my landlord won’t deal with the pests and our page for renters.

If it cannot wait and you decide to pay a pest professional yourself, tell the landlord in writing first, keep the invoice, and ask whether it can be reclaimed. Whether you can get that money back depends on local rules, so check with Citizens Advice or your tenancy body before you count on it.

If it is late in the season and no wasps reach your flat, the nest may die off with the cold. Does a wasp nest need removing? explains when waiting is reasonable. The skylight still needs fixing either way, or next spring’s queens may move in.

Landlords reading this: a quick reply, a booked treatment and a date for the repair settle most of these before they turn into a dispute. Our page for landlords has more.