Fleas in a rental .....what to do?

Question

New tenant has complained about large infestation of fleas... she is mentioning wanting her money back... what should I do to mitigate the issue?

John Chapman · Answer

You need to take care of the fleas if she hasn't even moved in yet.  That's just basic landlording.

Her monthly rent is irrelevant, in my opinion.  If the rent is too low to justify a $250 pest control treatment, then that's probably an indication that the house is not going to make a good rental.

Not trying to  be mean or anything.

Andy D. · Answer

@Drew Denham I'm sorry but your reply to @John Chapman doesn't seem an appropriate reaction in relation to your OP. Your question therein was, and I quote: "...What should I do to mitigate the issue?". That is an open question with the possibility of a variety of answers.

And John answered, in essence, with "deal with it.", i.e. take care of it as it's the landlord's responsibility. It is your property.

If this is not something you had wanted to hear then I'm a) wondering what you were expecting as answers and b) you should then not have asked that question (in this manner, i.e. as an open one).

This a place to look for input. You got input. Deal with it, and please don't insult those that do provide you with (legitimate) input. That's just wrong.

And back to topic: I have (thankfully!!) no experience with fleas. But would they really remain in an empty apartment? Assuming that the apartment was rented before and there were no complaints about fleas - and now a new tenant moves in and all of a sudden there are fleas? Well... where would they come from, I wonder...? Oh, right, the newly moved in tenant... or not?

Again, this doesn't change the fact there are fleas and that this needs to be fixed. Any infestation I would have the pros deal with. That's what they do all day and typically are good at, not to mention all the different chemicals and whatnot involved with this. It comes with a price, yes, but better safe than sorry there. Otherwise you will lose rent. And guess what will be more expensive ultimately.

At least that is my opinion. Good luck.

James DeRoest · Answer

If you have fleas in the house and it's empty it's because you have pests, eg mice and rats.

Bombing the house will do nothing. Either go to your local pest place and buy some stuff for mice and rats, or get someone in. Look at your neighbors properties as they will be the cause of the rats/mice (unless you have trash on your property) - and then report them to your local environment department.

Bombs will do nothing and you will get calls from the tenant in the future. Don't cheap out if you want a quiet life.

Penny Clark · Answer

@Drew Denham, unless you have the time to treat the pests yourself (BTW, Rick excellent info you provided for those DIYers!) and you are legally able to apply the materials (in Cali, that is a no can do! However, FLA and AZ can), then your best bet is to hire a small pest control company to handle the flea and other pest issues on the property. Forget Orkin, Terminix, Clark - they are overpriced. Look on yelp.com for a one or two person operation with good reviews in your area. Their pricing on a bi-monthly basis will be more reasonable ($55-$60 per service or less). Fleas cannot be treated effectively with a one time service, because you have adults to kill and larvae, eggs, which need to hatch out before the applied material can be effective. Another option is to offer the tenant you will pay for a one time service with a retreat and she pays the ongoing bi-monthly service.

Although fleas are not usually a pest that City health codes require you to treat (unlike cockroaches and rodents), doing so will create good will with your tenant and she won't balk when you issue notice for a rent increase.

Rich Cavanagh · Answer

@Drew Denham, I had to deal with this first the first time on an empty house. The tenants left a rottweiler in the house and moved. The fleas were treated 3 times by 2 different companies who said it was the worst flea infestation they had ever seen.

I decided to head over to http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/ and handle the problem myself. much cheaper than a professional and same selection of chemicals.

Few things I learned after successfully treating them myself.

Adult fleas are only only about 5-10% of the total population. The rest are larva, eggs, juveniles.

Sprays can kill adults and larva but not the eggs or while they are in the cocoons they use to transition from larvae to adult. They are pretty much nuke proof.

Find a nice spray for the adults that is safe and will continue killing them for months (a real one off of that site...not out of a big box store) then get a good insect growth regulator (IGR) like precor. That will keep the adults from developing and reproducing ...slowly killing them off.

Side note: If the house is vacant you will have to go over and vacuum to suck up eggs / fleas and keep them active. If the fleas do not sense the heat or movement of a meal...they will go dormant (or the young ones will just stay in their cocoons) and can do so for close to a year i'm told.

I had to go vacuum those carpets every other day for a few weeks to get them all.

I picked up a painters suit at lowes for cheap .... one that has the booties sewn on. I literally had 10-15 fleas jumping at each of my feet. They cant climb the suit very well. This kept me from bringing them home.

Since it is not vacant it will be MUCH easier. Just spray for the adults and spray an IGR to keep them from breeding and you should be good but no way to kill them all with a bomb or single session. You can get both of those sprays for ~60-80. Keep that site handy too. Have used them a ton of times and really saves some cash.

Michael Noto · Answer

@Drew Denham Tenants have a knack for overreacting.  If your dad was over there today and didn't notice any fleas than there probably aren't any.

I wouldn't let the tenant take the responsibility of taking care of this issue for you.  Sometimes this can lead to tenants thinking they can just do tasks around the house for money off rent.  Plus if there is fleas (which I bet there isn't) you want to make sure the issue is handled correctly.

On a side note I think it is amazing that there are parts of this country where you can rent a house for $445.

Thomas S. · Answer

Do not leave it to her. Do it right and hire someone otherwise it will come back to bit you, no pun intended.

It needs to be sprayed twice at least. Spray and about 3 weeks later spray again to insure the new hatchlings are killed..

You also need to find out if the previous owner brought them in or they came from another unit. If it is a multi unit building you will likely need to spray the entire building inside as well as the yards (if any).

Drew Denham · Answer

@John Chapman

I don't know what I don't know. My dad toured the property before my tenant got the keys today and there wasn't an issue.

I get sick of people on here acting as know it alls... I just want to see if there is a cheap, efficient, safe solution to the problem... what this site is for.

Have a nice day.

Drew Denham · Answer

@Mayank S.

Thanks - Orkin is $250.00. ... kind of pricey.

Rent on the house is $445...

She is going to by bombs her self and going to try that before she officially moves in.

Fleas in a rental .....what to do?

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