The landlord gave you traps. The holes are still open.
This is the most common mouse complaint in the city’s records: a tenant reports mice, the landlord hands out traps, the holes stay open, the tenant calls the city. Complaints that say "mice" name a landlord or management company three times as often as complaints that say "rat", and they come from apartments, not houses.
Traps catch the mouse in the kitchen tonight. They do nothing about the gap under the door, the hole behind the stove, or the unit next door. This guide is about getting the holes closed.
Whose job is it?
In a Columbus rental, treating an infestation inside the unit is the landlord’s job. Code enforcement treats infestations as habitability problems. A landlord’s duty in Ohio starts when they know about the problem, so tell them in writing, with the date, and keep a copy. A text message counts. A phone call you cannot prove does not.
If you told them and nothing happened, or traps are all that happened, your options in Ohio start with a report to the city and go from there.
Why traps are not a fix
Mice come in through openings the width of a pencil. They travel inside walls, along pipes, and from unit to unit. In the city’s records, complaints that say "mice" mention the walls or ceiling, the kitchen, the bathroom, and holes far more than rat complaints do, and one in five also mentions roaches, which use the same gaps.
A trap removes one animal. It does not remove the reason there will be another. The fix is sealing the entry points (steel wool and sealant in gaps around pipes, door sweeps, patched holes) and treating the building, not the unit. Ask for that.
What to ask for, in writing
- Sealing of every gap you can point to: under doors, around pipes under sinks, behind the stove and fridge, at the baseboards, at patio doors.
- Treatment of the building, not just your unit, if neighbors have mice too. Ask them. Building-wide problems carry more weight with the city.
- A date by which it will be done, and who will do it.
- A written response. If the answer is traps, write back that traps have not solved it and that the holes are still open.
What to tell 311
Report it to Columbus 311 as a problem inside an occupied unit. Give the address and the unit number. Say what you see and where: droppings in the cabinets, holes behind the stove, mice in the walls at night, in the bed, in the fridge. Say when you told the landlord and what they did. If there are children in the home, say so.
Wording matters. A complaint that says "inside" and names the holes is filed as an infestation. A complaint that only says "mice" can land as a yard complaint and get an inspector looking at the grass.
What the records show
From Jan 2025 through August 2026, 792 Columbus complaints said "mice" or "mouse", against 1,638 that said "rat". The mouse complaints cluster in the apartment belt: Northland, Wake Robin, the Far East Side, the Southwest. The share of rodent complaints that say "mice" rises with building size, from under one in five at stand-alone houses to nearly one in three at complexes of twenty or more addresses, and the share naming the landlord rises with it.
Mouse complaints do not follow the rat calendar. Rat complaints peak in July. Mouse complaints hold level through the year and take their largest share of what the city hears from October through January, when mice come inside and other complaints drop off. If you are reading this in the fall, you are on schedule.
The bites and the beds in the records are the mouse complaints. So is the fridge. It is not a small problem because the animal is.
Check the building before you sign
Mouse complaints repeat at complexes more than rat complaints repeat at houses. If a building or complex already has mouse, roach, or landlord complaints on file, you will see them here, under a neighbor’s address as well as your own.
Check the address
What has been reported there, at the same building, and across the complex. Free, no account.
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Common questions
Is a landlord responsible for mice in Ohio?
In a Columbus rental, treating an infestation inside the unit is the landlord’s responsibility, and the city’s code enforcement treats infestations as habitability problems. The duty starts when the landlord knows, so report it in writing and keep a copy.
My landlord only gave me mouse traps. Is that enough?
Usually not. Traps remove individual mice and do nothing about the openings they use. Ask in writing for the entry points to be sealed and for treatment of the building if neighbors have mice too. If that does not happen, report it to Columbus 311 as an infestation inside the unit.
How do I report mice in my apartment to the city?
Call 311 or file at 311.columbus.gov. Give the address and unit, say the mice are inside, describe where you see them and any holes, and say when you told the landlord and what they did.
Why do mice come inside in the fall?
Because it gets cold and the food outside runs out. In Columbus complaint records, mouse complaints take their largest share of all complaints from October through January.
Can I withhold rent for mice in Ohio?
Ohio has a rent escrow process that requires specific steps, including written notice to the landlord and a waiting period, and it is not the same as simply not paying. Read the landlord-will-not-fix guide on this site and use the government resources it links before you do anything with the rent.
Keep going
Know Your Block is a free, independent public-information project operated by Canary Civic LLC. It maps official City of Columbus code-enforcement complaints so renters and homebuyers can research a property before they move in. It is not affiliated with the City of Columbus and nothing on this page is legal advice.
Complaint counts describe reports filed, not verified conditions. A filed complaint is a report, not a proven violation, and records may be unfounded, resolved, or out of date.