What to pay tenants for temporary fumigation displacement

[Josh Prince]

I will be fumigating one of my buildings both for termites (not fumigated when purchased) to satisfy a lender on a refi, and also for bedbugs (only in a couple units but I figure this will kill two birds with one stone). I already have my company selected, I am aware of the additional procedures to fumigate for bedbugs, but I have one question for the learned scholars of BP:

What should I be paying my tenants who will be displaced for approximately 3 days while the building is tented?

I have a mix of studios, 1BRs and 2BRs with most tenants paying market rent, but one unit is way undermarket (about 25% of market). This is due to Los Angeles city rent control.

The cheapest way is for me to just reduce their rent for that month or pay them a pro-rated rental amount - e.g., if someone pays $1500 per month rent, give them three days worth of rent, which is $150. The person only paying $600 per month would only get paid $60.

The other way is I thought, to see what the local motel charges for a night. In this case, the closest safe motel is about $60 per night, so for three nights, that's $180 per person.

Do I have an obligation to put them up in similar accommodations - like does a renter of a 2BR get a suite rather than a motel room? Should i pay everyone the same? Differentiate according to unit size or family size?

I cannot find any local laws or regulation on this subject, and I am sympathetic to the disruption this will cause to the tenants' lives - I wouldn't want to have to pack up and move out of my house for three days while it was filled with poison gas! I am not that sympathetic to the one guy who brought in the bedbugs, however!

Please let me know how you have dealt with this situation or if you otherwise have any advice!

Thank you in advance.