Bed Bugs... who is responsible?

[Dick Rosen]

I just had a Phoenix tenant report that she has bed bugs. She said she has thrown 3 beds away trying to get rid of them. I suggested that they probably followed her from the apartment complex that she came from and naturally denied that possibility.

This building is nearly vacant and the only tenant in the building when she moved in 3-4 months ago, has been there for 10 years.

So who's responsible and how should I handle this? I have contacted 3 exterminators but I'm sure I won't hear back from them until Monday.

[Steve Babiak]

Regarding those three beds.

Did the tenant bring all of them from another place where she previously lived? If not, did the tenant buy any of them while living at your place? If so, were they purchased new or second hand?

These next two PDF files are documents I plan to give to tenants on any new or renewed leases (along with a bedbug addendum to the lease):

http://extension.psu.edu/pests/bedbugs/publications/homeowners/bedbugsPAipm.pdf

http://extension.psu.edu/pests/bedbugs/publications/homeowners/umn-kells-extension.pdf

Now, your lease is the contract between you and the tenant, and that contract is supposed to cover all possible scenarios that may arise - and that's not easy to do (hence the need for an addendum). You can plan for future leases, but what you have in place now is what will determine who is responsible for what.

Lastly, the beds may not be the source of these insects; beds just happen to be their preferred hangout because there will be a sleeping food supply there for them. Bed bugs hitch a ride on baggage, backpacks, on items in gym lockers - lots of public places. It's not simply a matter of thinking the tenant is a filthy pig - they might have just crossed paths with the wrong person who is the filthy pig.

Getting rid of these insects requires a multi-prong approach in many cases. Consult a professional exterminator to advise as to the best approach to take. These insects can spread among your other units as well in multi-unit housing, so you have to consider your liability to the other occupants too when you are trying to point blame somewhere. I suggest you solve the problem before it gets bigger.