Mice in My NYC Apartment: What Should I Do?

Tell your landlord or super in writing the day you see a mouse, then file a 311 complaint if nothing changes. Mice in any room of an apartment in a building with three or more units are an immediately hazardous violation of the Housing Maintenance Code, which gives the owner 21 days from service of the notice to correct it. Under section 27-2017.8 the fix is structural: the owner seals the gaps, fits door sweeps closing gaps to a quarter inch or less, and repairs the leaks.

Mice as an Immediately Hazardous Violation

Section 27-2017.4(b) puts mice in the same bracket as rats and cockroaches. Their presence in any room in a dwelling unit in a multiple dwelling, or in a common area, is an immediately hazardous violation, recorded by HPD as Class C. Under 27-2017.4(a), every other pest sits a class lower.

The duty behind it is flat. Section 27-2017.1 says an owner shall keep the premises free from pests and from any condition conducive to them, and shall expeditiously remediate the condition and any underlying defect. The code defines an underlying defect to include holes or entryway paths for pests, so the gap behind the radiator pipe is as much the violation as the mouse. A lease clause handing the problem to you is void under 27-2017.12(a).

Required Work Practices for a Mouse Violation

Section 27-2017.8(a) sets out what correcting a mouse violation has to include:

• Remove nests, waste and debris by HEPA vacuuming, washing surfaces, or collecting and discarding it.
• Seal holes, gaps and cracks in walls, ceilings, floors, molding, base boards, around pipes and inside cabinets, with sealants, plaster, cement, wood, escutcheon plates or other durable material.
• Fit door sweeps on any door to a hallway, basement or the outside, closing gaps to no more than one quarter inch.
• Repair drains, faucets and plumbing that leak or hold water, and replace saturated material inside walls.

Spraying alone does not clear the violation. The same subdivision says pesticide use shall not substitute for those measures, and that any pesticide must be applied by a professional licensed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which shapes what a pest control visit can involve. HPD publishes the same list on its indoor allergen hazards page.

Where Mice Get In and the Quarter Inch Rule

The quarter inch in that rule tracks the animal. The CDC puts the gap a mouse can pass at the width of a pencil, a quarter inch. A hole you would not bother mentioning is a working entrance.

Walk the apartment low and look where pipes and wires cross a wall or floor: under the sink, behind the toilet, at the radiator riser, in the back corners of base cabinets and along the bottom of the hallway door. House mice nest indoors near food in dark, warm, undisturbed spots, which in a kitchen means under cabinets, inside stove walls and by the refrigerator motor.

For the seal, the CDC calls for steel wool packed into small holes with caulk or spray foam around it to hold it in place, and lath screen or metal, cement, hardware cloth or metal sheeting for anything larger. The caulk or foam holds the steel wool in place, which is the step that gets skipped. Photograph each gap and you hand the owner a scope of work rather than a complaint about mice.

Snap Traps, Glue Boards and Rodent Poison

Snap traps are what the CDC recommends. Bait one with chunky peanut butter and set it on the floor against the wall, baited end toward the wall so the trap forms a T with it, because mice run walls rather than open floor. When traps catch nothing, the New York State Integrated Pest Management program at Cornell describes mice growing accustomed to them, and advises moving them to fresh activity after a few days off.

Glue boards are the one option public health guidance tells you to skip. The CDC is direct: do not use glue traps, because a frightened rodent urinates and that raises your chance of getting sick. Cornell adds why they underperform. Adult mice carry guard hairs that read a change in ground texture and warn them off a surface that could trap them, so glue boards catch mostly juveniles, and some that stick pull free or wet the glue.

Poison is the riskiest choice in an occupied building. The CDC limits it to infestations that persist and warns that poison baits can be dangerous for people and animals. Cornell's position is that bait is a pesticide, that it belongs in a tamper resistant station a child or a pet cannot open, and that loose bait should never sit where a child or pet can reach it. A poisoned mouse dies in a wall cavity, and Cornell notes the smell can run for days.

Common Tenant Mistakes

• Spraying pesticide yourself. The health department's Local Law 55 fact sheet tells tenants to avoid pesticides and chemicals with strong smells.
• Vacuuming or sweeping droppings, which the CDC says lifts droplets into the air. Wear gloves, spray droppings and urine with a bleach solution or an EPA registered disinfectant until very wet, let it soak, then wipe up.

Mice and roaches share a violation class and the same statutory work practices, but the traps and the hiding places differ, so treat roaches as a separate job.

Evidence Worth Keeping

Photograph the droppings, the gnaw marks and every open gap, dated, with a coin for scale. Cornell notes that large and small droppings together point to adults and young, and that oily brown sebum marks trace the routes mice use most. According to some estimates cited by Cornell, mice can leave 50 to 60 droppings a day, so a fresh scatter the morning after you cleaned is useful evidence of continuing activity.

Keep the written notice to the super with its date, and the 311 service request number. When the inspector arrives, show the places where you have seen activity. Section 27-2017.6(a) requires the inspector to ask whether mice are present. Ordinarily, the department need inspect only surfaces not blocked by furnishings, but visible evidence suggesting pests behind an obstruction is an exception. In the 2025 fiscal year, tenants asked about pests during inspections booked for something else said yes 29 percent of the time, and a pest violation followed in 52 percent of those cases.

Reporting and the Inspection Clock

Notify the owner first, then file a 311 complaint if the condition stands. Once HPD holds the complaint, 27-2017.6(b) gives it 30 days to inspect and (c) 10 further days to serve the notice. Between October 1 and May 31 that window can stretch if department resources require, and a deadline the city misses does not void the violation. Certifying the violation as corrected then takes an affidavit affirming the work practices were performed, not a note saying the mice are gone.

Unit Problem or Building Problem

One mouse behind a ground floor kitchen is a different case from a run through the risers. On September 26, 2026, HPD's violation file held 101,643 open violations whose notice text names mice, 60,887 of them Class C, across 36,647 separate tax lots. Filtering on inspection date, HPD wrote 25,959 mice violations of every status in the twelve months to September 24, 2026, of which 16,930 are still open. Rats appear in 7,700 open violations. These counts climb as HPD backfills records, so read them as a snapshot of that date.

Search the building's records at the free Building Health X lookup for open and closed violations by class and date, then check the mouse and rat complaints your neighbors have already filed.

The clock is the weak point. HPD's report to the City Council for the 2025 fiscal year lists 30,787 mice violations issued, 14,997 mice violations certified as corrected, and 3,728 false mice certifications. Those are separate fiscal-year counts; the report does not say the false certifications came from the same year's 14,997 certified violations. HPD says in the same report that 21 days may not be sufficient to eradicate an infestation. The annual list of 100 buildings the code has required since January 2025 for repeat false certification will not catch the pattern: section 27-2115(f)(3)(ii) tells the department to count violations certified as corrected other than a violation issued pursuant to section 27-2017.4, which is the pest section.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are my rights if there are mice in my NYC apartment?

Your landlord has to keep the apartment free of pests under section 27-2017.1. Mice in any room are an immediately hazardous violation, with 21 days from service to correct it using the 27-2017.8 work practices, which means sealing gaps and fitting door sweeps rather than spraying. A clause shifting that duty to you is void.

How long does a landlord have to get rid of mice in NYC?

Twenty-one days from the date HPD serves the notice of violation. HPD can add up to 14 further days if the owner shows, inside that window, that work started but cannot finish for want of materials, labor or access. HPD's own report for the 2025 fiscal year says 21 days may not be sufficient.

How are mice getting into my apartment on a high floor?

Through the building rather than the street. Mice travel the voids that carry pipes and wires, so a sixth floor kitchen connects to the basement through the risers and the backs of cabinets. The CDC puts the gap a mouse can pass at a quarter inch, the width of a pencil.

Are glue traps a good idea for mice?

No. The CDC tells you not to use glue traps, because a frightened rodent urinates and that raises your chance of getting sick. Cornell's integrated pest management program adds that adult mice detect the surface through their guard hairs and avoid it, so glue boards catch mostly young mice. Snap traps against the wall are the alternative.

Can mice make asthma worse?

Yes. The city's health and housing departments list mice alongside cockroaches and mold as common indoor asthma triggers, which is why these rules sit in an article titled Indoor Allergen Hazards. If you or your child has moderate or severe persistent asthma, your doctor can request a free home environmental inspection through the Health Department's Online Registry.

Do I have to let the exterminator into my apartment?

An owner who cannot get in can ask HPD for 14 more days on that ground, and if HPD cannot inspect on the first attempt it leaves a card, mails a letter, and may stop trying until a new complaint arrives. The city's tenant fact sheet asks tenants to let building staff in.