Bedbugs Not Disclosed but present and known

[Montana M.]

keep in mind reading this post that I have learned and pieced things together over 2 months, so this sounds like a "well you should have known he was a shady guy" situation, but it was too late by the time it was clear... I bought my first investment in Louisville KY, a 4plex, from a guy who inherited the unit from his mother. He has some mental issues, but had lived in the home for 15 years and acted as landlord for some or all of it. He disclosed nothing and claimed probate on the entire disclosure. Prior to the sale I found that tenants had no heat, roof was "replaced" (not his fault the roofing company billed for more than the did," and a tenant recently punched the owner. All seemed ok since he seemed to not understand anything. 2 weeks after closing I finally got him out and was cleaning his apartment and found many bedbug treatment chemicals, I asked him about them and he said "about a month ago I had a problem in my unit and another, but I treated them." I didn't trust him so I called the exterminator and he found there are still bedbugs in the other unit. I told the former owner he needed to pay for an actual exterminator and  he hasn't said anything since. I'm in contact with his realtor. But I need some advice for moving forward.

[Evan Polaski]

@Montana M., anyone that says "you should have known" clearly doesn't recognize how many lessons they learned since they started out.  You are on the right track with contacting his realtor, but I would also consult a real estate attorney.

I live in Cincinnati, OH, so about 2 hours from Louisville, but different states, different disclosure requirements, real estate laws and tenant-landlord laws.

From my experience, most real estate contracts have an As-Is, Where-is clause, and once you close, you have limited recourse to the seller.  Additionally, I do not recall any type of bedbug disclosures in property disclosures I have read or completed.  There might be a pest question, and I think there is a termite question.  If there was no question about any type of pest/bug issues, you might have issues proving he needed to disclose.  And even if he misrepresented, you will have some legal work ahead of you to force him to pay.  

All told, if it was me, I would push as hard as you can on him and his realtor, and maybe threaten legal action (but I am not a fan of empty threats), but ultimately, bite the bullet, pay the exterminator and get them resolved.  Your costs to force him to pay legally will likely be much higher than just getting it done and moving on.