I have a rental property that I lease out. Occasionally I get calls to
fix different things - plumbing, electric etc... and I normally just
call someone to go out there to fix it and have them deduct the cost
from the rent check. I live over an hour away to go there myself to
check things out.

Now today I got a call from the tenant and this is a new one. She 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 asked whether it could be sewer gas smell and
they said no, it smells like a dead animal and they cannot live in that
side of the house.

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 altogether?

Any suggestions? This is NOT a joke!

MC