Complicated bed bug situation

[Ross Miller]

Here's the situation:

I have a very old 5 unit building consisting of 3 floors in the front and 2 floors in a back section that was added on at some point. My issues are concerning the 2nd floor units in both front and back. The rear 2nd floor unit was treated for bed bugs last year at this time using the heat method from a reputable local company. That tenant had no complaints afterwards.

The front 2nd floor tenant has been a problem essentially since she moved in. Over the winter, she notified me that she had bed bugs. I directed her to the lease stating that she is responsible for bed bugs. She had no money and somehow got help either from the school or some other way to hire a local guy I'm not familiar with. He inspected the unit and performed a liquid treatment 3 times - he would treat it, then come back a few weeks later to treat again, and then again.

Around the same time that started, I placed a new tenant in the rear 2nd floor unit. Shortly after, the rear tenants complained that they found a couple dead bed bugs. The reputable company came to inspect the unit and didn't find evidence of an infestation. Even though we replaced the flooring, I thought maybe a couple dead ones got kicked up from last time.

Fast forward to now, the rear tenants found a live bed bug. I called the reputable company to do an inspection of BOTH the 2nd floor units. He said the signs of infestation in the front unit were too bad to use a liquid treatment and the other pest control guy probably pushed the bed bugs through the walls into the rear unit. In addition, there are still live bed bugs in the front unit. He also said that if she moves out before it gets treated, live bed bugs could drop out of the furniture and infest the common area.

He is recommending the heat method in the front unit and a liquid treatment in the rear unit since that's just starting.

To complicate things further, when I thought this issue was resolved back in February, I gave the front tenant notice that she had to move out by the end of April (month to month lease). She didn't pay rent for April, because she "didn't think she had to", and she claimed she needed that money to get another place. I made a sort of half-*** cash for keys deal where I would take her security deposit as the last month's rent as long as she moves out. We were planning on rehabbing this unit anyway so minor damage isn't an issue.

So now I'm lost. I have rear tenants at the beginning of an infestation that wasn't their fault. A front tenant who is a major pain in the ***, has no money, probably isn't even going to move out when she's supposed to, and has bed bugs.

Should I be going after the bad pest control guy? Can I even do that since he was hired by the tenant? Do I need to tell the tenant to go after him? Do I go after the tenant and let her figure it out? She has no money. If I go after her is it even likely I will be able to collect anything? Do I need to eat the costs then start an eviction hoping that I can at least get the missing rent from the front tenant?

[Tracy Minick]

Ross, we have experience a similar situation.  Bed bugs are the worst, particularly in a multifamily situation. What we finally had to do was treat the entire building due to the responsible tenant, our lease indicates that she is responsible for payment (same scenario - she can't pay).  We added the fee to her ledger. Our lease indicates that any money paid goes to unpaid fees then rent. Essentially, we now had the right to evict on non payment.  We then treated the unit while she was in residence (to eliminate chance of them spreading). When our move out was complete we turned the file over to collections. Ultimately we will collect some of the fees back, but not all.