Is it my responsibility as a landlord to control the squirrels in the yard/deck for the tenant?

Suggestions? Thanks

winter is coming. They are likely after any nuts, acorns,bulbs, etc -- anything to eat or store. As soon as the supply is gone, they will likely move elsewhere.

Unless

the tenant is feeding them

or if they get into the attic.

Odds are they will soon leave.

It's not your job to deal with them unless they are getting in the house. Then you need to evict them!

Aren't they supposed to be in the yard?

It's only a problem if they get into the house.

If they are tearing up chair cushions (or whatever), they are just looking for something to insulate their nest for the winter.

Squirrels weren’t something I worried about until the older neighbor Rhine got feet up with all of the squirrels in his attic. He had a company do a huge exterior remodel: roof, windows, fascia , gutters, siding, the works! Guess where those squirrels who had been living in his attic for years went? Yep, my attic.

I had one or two buckets in the attic to catch the occasional leak already, and had been i setting aside funds for a tear-off , with new decking, new gutters. So, got the roof scheduled.

The day the roof was done, gutter guy wasn’t available. No big deal, except the dang squirrels wanted back in. Started chewing on the brand new fascia boards ( we had verified there were NO babies in the attic) . So, I bought a couple of tubes of specialty caulk, the stuff that always stays sticky, meant to discourage critters. Spread that over a piece of plywood and set it on the awning the squirrels were sitting on to chew. Boy! They did not like that sticky stuff!

Then, baited my live trap with cat food, and some chicken scraps the tenant had. Put it outside in the shade. Caught a nice orange kitty. Finally, baited with rat poison and set the trap up in the garage, where there weren’t any obvious holes yet. Sure enough, those squirrels that had been raised in a nice, snug attic made their way into the garage.

Behind , not Rhine.

To the question of ‘Is the landlord responsible for squirrels in the yard.’ No, they are part of nature, attracted by all of the overflowing garbage that is ever present in the city.

If you don’t mind teaching your tenants, you can get involved. Know that just like squirrels learn to live off of humans, tenant’s learn to come back to the landlord again and again, if you help them sort these types of nuisances.

If there are a lot of squirrels, someone is feeding them. Make sure your tenant understands that they are not to feed the squirrels and that you have no control over whoever is feeding the squirrels.

Diahann,

I agree with Busy.

I spend a lot of time, energy, and expense attracting and bringing in good residents. People will leave over the tiniest problem and the average turnover is $3100 out of my pocket.

A previous office helper was afraid of them, a true fear, called them Tree Rats. If you think about it they CAN look evil when they freeze and stare at you. At any given moment we have 3-4 right outside the office window raiding the bird feeders because Wifey and I like watching them. Helper would shut the blinds.

This is as important to your res as mice or roaches.

I consider this a $3100 issue I need to resolve.

SOMETIMES your res just wants some attention.

1. Someone is feeding them. Perhaps your res, perhaps the neighbors.

2. Get the house sealed up tight. They will find the tiniest opening and chew it bigger.

3. Go to BugSpray.com and try their sticky repellant goo.

It’s not those sticky pads, it a caulk that stays sticky. Squirrels like to be well-groomed, and don’t like that stuff on their fur. Those trying to gain access to my attic only had to contact that once and they were as freaked out as a tactile-defensive autistic kid. They got off that awning pronto, and didn’t try that way again. I did leave the board with the sticky stuff there for weeks after, as I knew they needed to develop new habits.

You’ll probably need to research more methods of dealing with pesky squirrels on other sites before you find what works well-enough.

Keeping the tenant informed with small tips they can do to help the situation helps tenants calm down. Often I’ll text tenants something like, ‘ ‘I’ll do some research, see what I can figure out.’ ‘ let me know if you come across any ideas we can try.’ That works well for me; tenants feel heard, feel you are ‘doing something’ and know to check with you enforce just trying something. ( please, no one encourage tenants to try the shotgun or even BB gun method. Especially in a densely populated area. That was likely said in jest. Or by someone who doesn’t realize that most persons cannot hit the broad side of a barn. )