Bedbugs - responsibility?

Question

Hello.

Although I just recently passed my real estate salesperson exam in New York State, I do not believe this question or topic was covered.

A real estate investor I met yesterday asked me if his tenant has bedbugs in the first floor of his two family house, is he responsible for contacting a bedbug specialist, and as the landlord, is he responsible for paying for the extermination of the bedbugs?

Good question.  Thanks for any assistance.

Kenneth Wong · Answer

Althea / Travis,

Thanks for the quick reply.  As it turns out, the investor bought the house a few months ago, and a tenant in the property has been living there for 19 years. The tenant is 86 years old, and recently a nurse's aide alerted the investor to the problem.

I'm in agreement with having the investor bear the cost, but wanted to hear some other opinions,  Many thanks guys. ;)

Jen Kurtz · Answer

I am sure it is going to depend on local ordinances. Where I am, we have a bedbug addendum in the lease. It gives information as to where bedbugs can come from and some other miscellaneous information about them. It also makes it clear that the tenant is to inform us of bedbug activity, which we then schedule extermination with the company we use, and we bill the tenant. We work it out with them in a payment plan if they cannot cover the typical $300 bill up front. At our LIHTC property, this is something that can rarely be afforded up front.

Denise Donovan · Answer

More often than not when a landlord requires or expects a tenant to take care of bed bugs, (because they brought them in), they run to the local store to purchase bed bug products and not do it professionally. Bed bugs are not easy to get rid of and must be dealt with properly.

These products cause the spread of and in some cases fires within apartment buildings.  You then have your hands full cost wise. It's not worth it!

It is hard to prove who brought them in unless the owner has a proactive protocol in place whereas they have a starting point.

Yes landlords, property management and owners can be held as negligent and if you have your paperwork done properly you can hold a tenant negligent as well. It's actually pretty simple - It's a process.

Denise

Randi Plevy · Answer

This is a statute I'm familiar with, unfortunately.  It's completely the Landlord's obligation in NYC and severe penalties can result from the LL's failure to act.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/bedbugs/html/info/owners_tenants.shtml

Joe Fairless · Answer

@Kenneth Wong - I'm guessing in NYC it would be the landlords but, more importantly, the landlord should want to address it ASAP. Budbugs aren't covered under insurance and if you end up having to raze a building because of the infestation you're out of luck. That's a doomsday scenario but has happened before.

More likely is that the bed bugs will spread to adjacent units and cause other residents to move out. That's a big hit too.

In Cincinnati it costs about $300 per unit for all the treatments.

FYI - here's a bedbug article I recently wrote: http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4430/blog_posts/32442-bed-bugs-spotting-and-getting-rid-of-them

Bill S. · Answer

Check you local laws. Here the local ordinance requires the landlord to shoulder the burden.

Travis Sperr · Answer

I do the following for all pest control – in a single family house I let the tenant take care of it. In a multifamily I take care of it. Not sure what Bloomberg would say in your area, but the people upstairs are going to be calling your friend pretty soon about bed bugs they didn't bring in.

Account Closed · Answer

Firstly, as you well know, the State exam contains questions relating to about 1% of 'real world' real estate. Your real learning only begins AFTER you pass the test!
	
	Bedbugs?  Realistically, the tenant should bear the costs of eradication, however how does one prove who introduced the pests to the building?

As a landlord, we do regular pest control. It is appreciated by the tenants and goes a long way to give them peace of mind and it is low enough in cost, to not break (our) bank.

I would say, morally speaking, that the landlord should just go ahead and pay for the extermination.

Hope this helps.

Bedbugs - responsibility?

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