Forum: Landlord
August 10, 2008
Extermination Advise
Hello all,
I am a new property owner that purchased a completely renovated building in the earlier part of this year. The renovation was completed over a year an a half ago and the building was vacant for 8 months (that we know of).
A few months after we moved in, we rented out the top floor to some roommates who had little to no furniture.
About two months ago, the roommates informed us casually (because we were tripping over the debris) that he had a friend that was moving out of state and sold them all of his furniture for a bargain basement price.
Two days ago, the tenant knocked on our door to inform us that he has rodents (mice & odd-looking bugs). He also inquired about the state of our apartment (i.e. weather or not we had noticed bugs). When we told him that this was the first time we were hearing about it, he proceeded to rationalize that the bugs might have come from the neighbors next door because their have a lower socio-econonomic status (yes, that was a direct quote).
My husband was so angered that the tenant used every possible explanation (including blaming the people next door) rather than look at his actions (trekking in used goods). We have already decided that we will pay for the exterminator to circumvent the spread of bugs/mice to the tenant on the second floor (who just moved in) and our apartment because the building is our investment and we cannot expect a tenant to assume responsibility for something they have no real interest.
My question is who is responsible for this? The building was completely new and there was no possible way that there were bugs prior to the tenant moving in. The tenants are the first occupants of their apartments. We do not have a “rodent clause” in our lease, but there is a “maintenance clause” that states that the tenant will maintain the apartment in good and sanitary condition. We do not want to end up in a situation where “we” pay for the exterminator and indirectly admit any fault as a result (I have seen some crazy things on court television shows). Any advice is welcomed.