Bed Bugs....dun dun dun

[Brad Clarizio]

Well, it finally happened. One of my tenants (in a duplex- so that plays into it) is claiming they have bed bugs. They believe they came from the house next door (not the other side of the duplex) that recently had all their mattresses outside, etc. Mind you, this is a decent part of town, so it's not exactly hillbilly town. The property is in Columbus, OH.

That said- how do you guys approach this? It is not referenced in the lease at all as to who is responsible. Ultimately, I believe I am going to be responsible, but do you handle this yourself or go to a professional? What kind of costs should I expect (2100 sq feet between the two sides), should I treat both sides, and how do I protect myself moving forward? My mentor, who has 37 properties, told me to have them sign an addendum stating I will provide one treatment only...thoughts?

Thanks! 

Brad

[Marcus Curtis]

This is not a fun process to deal with. My company manages over 5,000 units in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro and on average have at least 10 bed bug units per month. It is especially bad in those properties where you have tenant profiles of people who typically co-habitat or have many family members in and out of the units. Generally, but not always. We use professional companies to handle this work. The majority of the time we opt for a heat remediation which is essentially a day long process where they bring in several industrial size heaters and bake the entire unit up to 140 degrees. This effectively kills all live bugs and any viable eggs. Your tenant will need to cooperate with this and spend a significant amount of time and effort in preparing their unit for the treatment. They will also have to find somewhere else to be on the day of the treatment. For costs you are looking at anywhere between $1,200-1,700 for a unit of that size. This includes the heat treatment and in most cases a chemical and powder treatment. When discussing the treatment options with the pest control professional ask them what warranty they offer on their heat treatments. Most offer either ab30 or 60 day warranty where they will come back and perform another heat treatment free of charge if the first is not effective. As far as who will pay for this: initially you will. However, our lease language specifies that the tenant may be held responsible for remediation of pests where management was not responsible. Nice and ants are typically an issue as a result obtuse building. Bed bugs on the other hand must be brought in. So, perhaps you check to see if they may have seen the "free" mattress on the curb and brought it in. This is usually the source- free furniture. If you shoot me a personal message I can send you a copy of the template we send out to tenants to get them to prepare for the heat treatments. One other piece of advice I have is to get BOTH units inspected. Often times the one who reports first are not the ones who had it first. Good Luck!