Bed bug situation, tenant is responsible but no $$$

[Justin Crandall]

Hey Folks, I have a situation I hope your brilliant minds can help with...

I have a tenant that brought a bed bug infestation to our property.  The cost to treat is running about $1500.  It has it in the lease that they are responsible for bed bug treatments.  They can't afford it.  

Speaking with my property manager we're trying to figure out how to handle it.  She doesn't want to ammend the lease, which is what were leaning towards where the tenant can pay us back in increased rent.  She wants us to do a promissory note, basically an unsecured loan, which I'm not a big fan of.

Any ideas of how to handle this?

Thanks!

[John Warren]

@Justin Crandall I would question the amount on the bed bug treatment. Is this a single family home? In multi units here in Chicago I don't pay that much for bed bugs. Maybe $100-150 to do a one time treatment. Even heat treatment for an entire apartment is only like $800-900 for a one time service. 

I would think you could always pay this and just put it on your tenant's ledger. That is pretty typical stuff. Your tenant then could pay it off over a few months.