Bed bug infestations
are a hot topic in the media. (Forbes: Bedbugs Infest Manhattan Office, California Theater, NY Subway) Infestations have spread throughout the United States and Europe. As a landlord, you could potentially become liable for a bed bug infestation in your rental property. Read on to learn more about your liability and how to protect yourself.
About Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are tiny insects. They are so small that they are difficult to see. They also like to hide in dark places, like behind baseboards, inside mattresses and furniture, and even in picture frames. To top it all off, they’re nocturnal. This makes it extremely difficult to visually spot bed bugs, so they can hang out undetected until you get bitten and see evidence of their visit. They come out at night to feed (ie., bite you), and then they return to their hiding place and lay eggs.
Bed bugs are excellent hitchhikers. They hop into boxes or suitcases and take a trip with you, then reproduce as soon as they’ve moved into their new dwelling. This is bad news for establishments like hotels or rental properties, because one party can bring the bugs in from their previous residence, and soon the whole place is infested.
So…Who’s Liable?
As a landlord, one of your legal responsibilities to your tenant is to provide a habitable dwelling that is pest-free. Depending upon your locale, the law might specifically state that you are required to provide a habitable dwelling free of bed bugs. However, even if bed bugs are not specifically stated, they still fall in to the category of pests. Landlords have a responsibility to exterminate bed bugs.
(Read also: Basic of Fair Housing Laws)
The tenant has a duty to cooperate with the landlord to have the bugs exterminated, which means allowing the exterminator into the home to treat the pests.
If the landlord knows of bed bugs and does not exterminate them, the tenant has the right to sue the landlord. One of the responsibilities of the landlord is to provide a dwelling that is safe for human habitation. If the tenant can prove that the rental property is not fit for human habitation due to a bed bug infestation, the landlord may become legally and financially liable. The landlord may be required to reimburse the tenant for the rent that was paid during the period of time when the premises were infested.
Of course, there is also the issue of who introduced the bed bugs. If the landlord can prove that the tenant complaining of the infestation actually introduced the bed bugs to the premises, he may not be liable. However, tracing the bed bugs to a root cause can be quite difficult.
The best course of action for landlords, as always, is to address this issue as soon as you become aware of it. Rather than trying to determine whether the tenant caused the bed bugs, it is much wiser to bring in an exterminator as soon as you are aware of the problem so that the infestation doesn’t spread. It is also a good idea to have the space inspected and treated by an exterminator in between tenants during your turnover period.
If you are a landlord in Phoenix or Scottsdale area and could use some help managing your rental property, get in touch with McMath Realty. We provide property management services, which means that we will take care of all of the day to day duties of dealing with your rental property. From advertising to screening tenants to maintenance and upkeep, we will handle everything so that you can sit back and collect rent checks.
Call McMath Realty today to learn more
https://mcmathrealty.com//contact.php