BED BUGS IN ONE OF THE UNITS IN A DUPLEX

[Account Closed]

Tenants broke lease earlier, left without leaving forwarding address. We cleaned up the property, found some fleas and dead bedbugs on the belongings left behind ( sorry if I made you itchy ). I know I probably need to call exterminator .The question is do I order inspection of both units or just the empty one. Tenants on the first floor never complained. And the lease states bed bugs is shared tenants responsibility .

Svetlana

[Mario B.]

@Account Closed Bed Bugs are hard to diagnose, many don't know what they are.  A large percentage of people don't even know they have bed bugs because only a small percentage react to the bites, it's very alarming.  I highly recommend having a bed bug addendum or mention of it in your lease.  My previous company had a 9 page lease which I thought was bullet proof.  My new company has a lease that's about 35 pages, it's very eye opening, and I will be utilizing it for my next renter.  There are so many grey areas for landlords, the only way to protect yourself is with a sound proof lease, photos, videos, etc. and even then you may miss something.  A rule of thumb for treating bed bugs is to treat the affected unit, and inspect the unit above, below, on the sides, and across, that's what we did when I managed a hotel.