I am not sure this is the right forum but I do not see one dedicated to rental properties so I will try here. If this is not the right place I apologize.

I purchased a property last year with an intent to live in it however since the original owner rented the property out and there is an existing lease I had to honor the lease and wait until it expires. When the property was sold I inherited the lease and the security deposit.

While I waited for the lease to run out I periodically was called on by the tenant to fix things (roof leaks, oven not working...) and I have done all that.

Now we are one month from the lease expiration and today they called me and said I need to fix a "smell" problem. I said what? They said there is a very strong odor and they traced it to the attic. The odor smells like some dead animal up there. The husband said he tried to open the garage hatch and the odor was so bad he cannot enter the attic and they demand I go "fix it".

I am not sure how I can fix it. This is not a mechanical or electrical failure, the lease does not specifically cover things of this nature. Regardless whether it is my responsibility to fix it, I guess I need to address it since if I don't, the smell will get worse and worse and it may be more and more difficult to rid the smell later the longer I wait. But this is not something for an exterminator? or is this another profession?

LOL!!!

Tell "the" husband to not be such a wimp and get his behind up in the attic and get that dead bird out. If he is still scared, you can wait until the end of next summer as all the moisture from the dead body will evaporate and the smell will be gone, leaving a mass of bones and feathers. Then you can put it on his pillow for being such a baby.

(is this a serious question?!?!)

Dont apologize for your husband Pathfinder and welcome to the Forum!!!

Check Google or the local yellow pages to see if there is some sort of private animal control firm listed; they should be able to remove any sort of dead animal that is causing the odor.

Failing that try your local city or municipal government.

Odors can permeate into wood and be difficult to remove so take care of it soon. You may have a hole in one of the rafters. Unless the tenant did something so an animal could get in, I don't see how they would be responsible. You could give 25 bucks to a neighborhood college kid to check out the attic. Of course, it might not even be an animal, maybe some other problem.