Landlord, tenants & bedbugs
Dear Brownstoner, Need advice on my rights as a landlord regarding bedbugs. Here is the situation. In early May, my tenant on the top floor says she thinks she found a bedbug but she would monitor to see if finds any more. A week later she emails and says she hasn’t seen another one. Fast…
Dear Brownstoner,
Need advice on my rights as a landlord regarding bedbugs. Here is the situation.
In early May, my tenant on the top floor says she thinks she found a bedbug but she would monitor to see if finds any more. A week later she emails and says she hasn’t seen another one. Fast forward to early-June, she emails to tell us that now she is finding 3-4 bedbugs a night on the walls although she hasn’t been bitten.
She claims the source of the bedbugs must be from the neighbors to the right coming through the brickwalls underneath the sheet rock. This is debateable as she has had numerous international guest over the past year and we have heard that bedbugs travel mostly this way on luggage and people. Also the tenant below her and our duplex apartment have not had any issues.
Regardless we agreed to pay for an exterminator within in a week of her informing us about the bedbugs. After working around her schedule and rescheduling 3 times, the exterminator comes two weeks later, June 24th.
Now the tenant is screaming that conditions are unlivable and she is having health issues with the extermination residue. As she only has one month left on her lease and had planned to move in mid-July back to Europe, she is refusing to pay for July rent and wants us to give her deposit back in full. She is planning to move all her stuff out by July 1st and couch surf till she goes back to Europe.
Would appreciate any advice or experience you have had on the best next step. Although not ideal in anyway, in most cases a residence is livable after a bedbug extermination treatment otherwise the company would advise tenants to vacate afterward. The tenant didn’t inform us that she was highly sensitive to chemicals but according to her doctor that she saw yesterday she should not be exposed to the residue now.
We have only tried to be responsive and good landlords do I have any rights here? Could I be sued if I don’t return the deposit?
Thanks again for any advice you can give.
Sounds like very convenient timing doesn’t it? Don’t know how long she’s been your tenant, but does she seem like the kind of person who might “exaggerate” the situation to try and get out of the lease a month early? I’d hold her deposit as last month’s rent unless she can substatiate some of her claims, which it sounds like she hasn’t.
my opinion would be to hold deposit for last month’s rent unless you can rent it in a timely manner.
If she’s really worried about bedbugs, she wouldnt be moving from couch to couch, like a magical bedbug fairy.
If she’s moving out of the country, she wont sue anyway.
SPEAK TO YOUR LAWYER. It seems you have done as much as you can.
You probably should let her go but it’s not up to her to decide not to pay her last months rent so I would consider telling her that you would consider filing a court action, making it difficult for her to re-rent if she were to return to the States. Make sure you get an exterminator that specializes in Bedbugs when she leaves
I find the timing of the tenant’s hissy fit interesting. Would she act this way if she had 6 more months on her lease? As a landlord, you were responsive to her needs. I’m sure if she had told you that she’s sensitive to the chemical residue you would have waited until she left. If she knew that she was sensitive, she should have said so. It’s clearly easier for her to blame you than take a look at her own actions and responsibilities.
She sounds like a nut job. If you only have 1 month’s security and she leaves July 1st, maybe you should just return the deposit and let her go. Make sure you have a good look at the apartment though. If there is one itsy bitsy drop of damage, charge her for it.
I am not sure I believe that this is an issue of bedbugs but rather a crazy tenant. Seems to me that since she is moving to Europe you won’t get any money out of her by suing her, nor will she be around to sue you if you hold onto her security deposit in lieu of the unpaid rent (I ask for security AND last month’s rent btw at signing). Sounds like you let her move out, clean apartment and re-rent.
Bedbugs are a growing scourge, and EXTREMELY hard to get rid of once introduced. They can travel by any number of means, including through walls, and on clothes and luggage. For the most part, not worth arguing about where they originated:
by NY law it is the landlord’s responsibility to maintain the premises free of vermin. You may or may not want to make some discreet inquiries with your next door neighbor. Let your tenant go, the sooner the better. If you do not clear the infestation, you might soon face the problem throughout your building. Address return of security once the apartment is vacated, as is the norm. See:
http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/bed-bug-alert/
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/vector/vector-faq1.shtml