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garmato
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Re: Rats in flats on Seabird Lane
Aug 10th, 2018 at 11:45pm
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A photo of the rat in the laundry room would be solid evidence, not a photo of what appears to be feces.

I'd suggest you try DIY first, maybe buy wire mesh to cover the open pipe. Without a photo, I have no idea what the situation looks like.

Always try to maintain a good relationship with your landlord and agent if you want their cooperation.

If you can't go the DIY route, ask the agent to visit your home to check the situation and ask him/her for their advice on what to do. The agent can coordinate with the landlord on a solution that works for everyone.

Don't argue, don't get angry, don't point fingers. The issue at hand is your concern about your baby and hygiene. This should be easily taken care of. Good luck.
  
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garmato
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Re: Rats in flats on Seabird Lane
Reply #1 - Aug 11th, 2018 at 2:07am
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You know the answer. It varies by person. Some are honest and do what's right, others don't care.

SCMP mentions this is "kaukei" (求祈 shoddy, careless, slipshod, sketchy) attitude in Hong Kong. A generalization that locals don't do things properly and take short cuts.

I'd probably call it "sidaan" (是但) attitude. I hear this word coming out of locals' mouths a lot. In Mandarin it would be "shuibian" (隨便) literally "whatever". Locals tend to ignore rules/guidelines for the sake of convenience and do as they please if they know they can get away with it with little consequences.

When I search about your situation online, it's very murky. The landlord is responsible for pest control but conversely, the tenant can be responsible on basis of poor housekeeping or lack of cleanliness.

That means the agent doesn't find a compelling reason to bother the landlord as the rat itself wasn't in the house at the time of the visit and it was not an infestation.

From that, I guess nothing you can do, probably can't even claim the expenses for metal grate, cleaning, loss of dishwasher as it was a one off incident.

Take it as a learning experience. City Management does lay rat poison outdoors to deal with the rat problem and it's also something dog owners have to be careful about. There's been a few incidents of dogs in DB dying because they eat rat poison while being taken for a walk.

Best to forget about this incident this time. There are many things to be thankful for. It's not healthy to have a negative experience eat away at the back of one's mind.

Yes, there are many stories of bad landlords, tenants, agents but maybe best discuss with friends and laugh it off.
  
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