Pest Control, Who's responsible the landlord or the tenant?

[Rodney Dawkins]

If you have a single family home rented out for a year lease, ideally who is responsible for extermination for waterbugs the tenat or the landlord?

[Will Barnard]

If you deliver a pest free home at time of lease contract, other than termites, it should stay that way; however, ants are common so most landlords will agree to pay for such treatments. "Water bugs" as they were called in the OG post are likely American or Oriental cockroaches, of which, do not infest indoors. So if they are found indoors, they have come in from the exterior but will not infest, mate, or lay eggs inside. Those disgusting creatures are the German cockroaches which are common in dirty kitchens/bathrooms (anywhere indoors where moisture and a food source is available) and most common in apartments. For an SFR, I would make sure my lease held the tenants responsible for such an infestation. For ants/rodents, I would assume responsibility. Rodents can only get inside if the home is not sealed from all parts of the exterior (or through an open door left unattended and usually at dusk (rodents are nocturnal creatures).

For apartment buildings, it is part of the owners cost of doing business as tenants will not pay for cockroach infestations and it would be difficult to prove which unit was the cause of the starting infestation at times.