Cockroaches in Tenants stuff prior to full move in

[Account Closed]

I have a family moving into one of my rentals today.  We signed the lease last week and were waiting to conduct the formal walkthrough till today. I allowed them to move a few things in prior to their official move in date of today as I was completing some construction projects within the home.

Yesterday evening as we were finishing up some of the painting we moved a pot/pan of the tenants and inside were two cockroaches. There have never been cockroaches in our home prior to this.

What should I do?  What are my options?

Thank you so much!

[Thomas S.]

You need to stop the process of move in immediately. If the cockroaches were alive you need to have a discussion with them immediately. If they are already in you need to discuss with them what you found and that you have never had roaches. You will need to inform them that you will need to do weekly inspections and if any cockroaches are found you will have to have a exterminator in and charge the tenants for the cost.

If they have brought in roaches unfortunately your tenant choice has turned out bad and you may have to get rid of both the tenants and the roaches). Hopefully there is another explanation but not likely. In the end you may be facing having to evict.