Fleas in 3/4 occupied 4 family.

[Michael Crawford]

I have a situation where I am under contract for my first property. It is a 4 family, that I plan on owner occupying. 3 units are already occupied, with 2 tenants that seem responsible and cooperative and one that is not.

The one that is not is the only tenant to be month to month. I do not plan on renewing his lease

The building has a flea problem and the current owner already had one professional spraying and will have one more.

I have multiple issues with this situation that all advice is welcome.

1. The current treatments are basically pointless unless the tenants are cooperating, getting their pets treated, vacuuming, etc. So should I try to negotiate this with the seller? He already seems like he is on the brink of not selling.

2. Can I just tell the tenant that I don't want to renew the lease. It's obvious that it's because he's not cooperative. But I don't want a discrimination lawsuit coming my way.

3. What is the best strategy for coordinating a flea treatment strategy between everyone that lives on the property, including us?

I simply want to do this in the most strategic and efficient way possible so that I don't have tokeep doing it over and over because we missed some.

Yes I understand that that is part of dealing with fleas because of their life cycle, but I still want to handle it in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.

We also plan on having our leases address this type of problem.

Thank you!

Each treatment is $81.

[Lynn McGeein]

Current owner is treating so I would create a plan for when you move in, like 1) give notice to M2M tenant as soon as you close; 2) ask tenants to put any pet on active flea treatment, and 3) have a pest company provide blanket treatments periodically until problem is solved.  Then change rules of lease when possible to include tenant is responsible for keeping their unit pest free, including fleas, roaches, etc., and have pet policy address requirement for pet to be on active flea treatment (receipt from vet for proof, maybe? -- I already require proof of current rabies and local pet license if applicable)  For multi-family, however, one tenant can create problems for all units, so I actually feel more obligation as owner for pest treatment for attached units versus detached single family.