The tone of her email seemed to me to be about how she and Hil were going to fight this together.

I'm not so sure about that. The part about drawing the line here, and about how I need to keep clean wherever I may end up, kind of sounded to me like threatening to terminate my lease if there were any more mice.

The tone of her email seemed to me to be about how she and Hil were going to fight this together.

That's not how I took it at all.

I think there's only been one time that she entered without my permission, and she left my a note apologizing for that --

Case in point. Didn't she just say she was going to come in whenever she wanted to?

smonster,

you know better than I, but do you think you may have something else on top of IBS? Like could you have a bacterial infection in your stomach or something?

These things from the landlady's e-mail:

The line is drawn: no further problems may ensue, after this episode is concluded (I am hoping that another mouse will come forward).

This isn't in your lease. If she's implying that she can terminate your lease if another mouse shows up, she's wrong. I can tell you that without even looking up your state's tenant/landlord laws.

When she says she's "hoping another mouse will come forward," I feel like there's 2 possibilities: (1) she misspoke and left out a very important word -- "NOT" -- as in "I am NOT hoping another mouse will come forward," or (2) she's implying that since "the line is drawn," she wants a reason to evict you.

Honestly, if you have a chance to follow up, I VERY strongly recommend you ask her for crystal-clear clarification on that parenthetical remark. Because unless it's in your lease that even one mouse is grounds for eviction, then she can't "draw a line." She can fucking well pay for an exterminator every month, is what she can do. That's what *landlords* have to do.

If you are phobic, as you assert, the implication is that you will do anything possible to avoid inviting them.

She can't put words in your mouth like that ("the implication is that you will do anything possible"), and, again, that shit isn't in your lease. However, the e-mail Sparky suggested, that you sent, does cover that point -- that you will do anything *reasonable* to prevent mice. But damn well NOT "anything possible."

She really doesn't sound cut out to be a landlord. Or perhaps she's just not familiar with PA's tenant/landlord laws.

I get rage-y over landlords who turn into bullies, because I had a ridiculous problem with a landlady after I moved out of an apartment.

Every other apartment I'd ever lived in, I always got back my security deposit and had glowing recommendations. This landlady told me she wasn't returning the security deposit because "the apartment wasn't clean." Which was untrue. But more importantly, under Ohio law (at least at that time), if a landlord is going to withhold a tenant's security deposit, then at the time that the landlord informs the tenant of that -- and NOT after the fact -- the landlord must give the tenant an itemized list of what the security deposit paid for. The landlady didn't do this, and I told her that because she didn't, she was required to return my deposit. So then she sent me a hand-written list of things that needed to be cleaned, with dollar amounts -- "Dirty windowsills, $50," etc. (hand to god, she did this), and so I told her that (1) any itemized list needed to have been provided back when she first withheld the deposit, and (2) it had to be from an actual cleaning company, not a hand-written list on notebook paper. (Although #1 trumps anything anyway.)

So she told me that she wouldn't return the deposit because of the "filthy condition" I left the apartment in, which is patently untrue. But neither she nor I had photographic proof. And again, I told her about the legal requirement to give me the itemized (official) list at the time of withholding the deposit, and if I took her to small claims court and they found in my favor, she would have to pay double the disputed amount.

She basically told me that she had NEVER had a tenant sue her, and how dare I imply that I would sue her when I was clearly in the wrong. And by the way, I was not getting my security deposit back.

So I ended up having an attorney friend write a letter on her firm's letterhead saying everything I already said, and citing the actual laws, and sent it to her. And then I got my deposit back, with a nasty note saying that she was getting out of the landlord business because of tenants like me, and how I lost money anyway because I had to pay an attorney (which I didn't), and -- I swear she said this IN A LETTER -- she wished she "had known what I was really like" before I moved into the apartment complex I was in at that time, so she could warn them that I would "destroy property and file frivolous lawsuits."

All because the windowsills were dusty. HAND TO GOD.

But damn well NOT "anything possible."

I want to say you should call a building inspector to identify any place where the house is not completely sealed and deduct the cost of fixing it from your rent.

But you may not want to go DEFCON 5 on her just yet. Since, you know, you have to live there and are a generally nicer person, I think.

Harking back to last night's conversation, I cannot imagine this is a landlady who could tolerate a dog without constantly being all up in your face about how many feet from the house before it pees, how many barks per week are allowed, etc. (Of course, that would open up the opportunity to also call and have the place soundproofed!)

Our last landlord took $$ off of our security deposit because the windowsills were dirty on the OUTSIDE. Yes, we were supposed to clean the outside of the place as well as the inside. WTF.

Yes, we were supposed to clean the outside of the place as well as the inside.

Most landlords I've had seem to understand the concept of normal wear and tear.

And then there are the crazy ones.

When she says she's "hoping another mouse will come forward," I feel like there's 2 possibilities: (1) she misspoke and left out a very important word -- "NOT" -- as in "I am NOT hoping another mouse will come forward," or (2) she's implying that since "the line is drawn," she wants a reason to evict you.

I thought maybe she thought there was still one mouse inside and is hoping to catch and remove it.

What a cluster though. I am sorry you are having to deal with this.

Our last landlord took $$ off of our security deposit because the windowsills were dirty on the OUTSIDE. Yes, we were supposed to clean the outside of the place as well as the inside. WTF.

OMG. That is crazy. MADNESS.