Landlord Desperate – Can’t Pay Rent: “It’s All Happened Because of a Mouse”
In September 2022, a woman looked in through the window of a pizzeria in Hässleholm and discovered a large mouse, alternatively a small rat, crawling into the kitchen. She alerted the environmental and urban planning administration, which visited the pizzeria that same day for an unannounced inspection.
The environmental inspectors were able to quickly establish traces of pests in three different places in the premises; a supposed skull of a brown rat under the element in the serving, gnawed insulation from the cord belonging to the soda cooler, gnawed wood on the floor under the pizza counter and a lot of rat droppings next to a dough mixer.
At the far end of the dish room, the inspectors found red onion skins and a pizza edge. They were then able to determine that because the space is so small, it indicated that some animal had moved the leftover food and not the staff.
A rat trap was also placed behind flour bags, which was lined with food.
The pizzeria owner told the inspectors that the staff cleaned thoroughly every day but that the rats were in the house where the pizzeria is located. The owner also stated that he contacted Anticimex who had been there and placed poison in the basement and on the roof of the pizzeria.
Fine of 20,000
He was informed that he was not allowed to handle and produce unpackaged food in the business as long as the rat problem persisted.
Two years later, the owner must now pay a fine of SEK 20,000 because new food orders were received despite the ban, according to a judgment in the administrative court. The owner contested the municipality’s application and pointed to the consequences after the inspection
The man says that initially he did not want to close the pizzeria at all and his staff therefore continued to take orders from customers, before finally following the inspectors’ decision. He also says that they have lost many customers after it was written in the newspaper that the restaurant was closed because of rats.
Today, he cannot pay the rent for the restaurant and says that “everything has happened because of a mouse”.