Residents
Owners
Pest control is a pain for tenants and landlords. With spring arrive, flowers and bugs are increasing. They are making their way into rental properties which is upsetting tenants and disrupting the lives of landlords. It’s one of those issues that can be confusing to the relationship because both parties may think the other party is responsible for handling this.
Be sure to brush up on the rental agreement to see who is in charge of handling pests. Here is a look at when the tenant pays, when the landlord pays and what to do about bedbugs.
Landlord’s Responsibility
It’s the landlord’s responsibility for the most part because of the implied warranty of habitability in maintain livable conditions of a rental property. Since a pest can jeopardize livable conditions, an infestation due to natural circumstances is the landlord’s responsibility. When a rental property is located near a grass field and there are mice in the rental unit, the landlord needs to set up and pay for the exterminator.
All other natural pests are the landlord’s responsibility including cockroaches, bedbugs, termites, spiders, ants, wasps and rats. This should be handled seasonably anyway for maintenance and prevention to avoid any issue getting worse.
When is it the tenant’s fault?
While the landlord must handle natural pest issues, a tenant is responsible if the behavior or actions caused the pest issue. Ants and cockroaches are attracted to unclean an area which means a tenant shouldn’t be keeping food out or forgetting to take the garbage out.
If there are unreported leaks attracting pests or a flea infestation from pets, it would be the tenant’s responsibility to pay for the treatments. Exterminators can help a landlord understand what caused the pests; whether it was naturally born or due to a tenant’s behavior.
Lastly, bedbugs have made the news for rising across the country in more and more infestations. Being so hard to get rid of due to their ease of transportation, be sure clean your rentals with a professional service if there was an infestation and read up local laws on this new dilemma.
