Rental Properties With Bed Bugs

Most owners are upset with their tenants who report bed bugs in your rental home. As an owner you have done a lot of work to ensure that the rental property is safe and habitable. This is your investment, and your tenant is threatening its integrity. The following is a discussion about bed bugs in rental properties written by an experienced bed bug exterminator who provides services in multiple US states. None of the information contained on this page or this site can be considered legal advise. 

As an owner you instantly have questions such as. How long has the tenant had the bed bugs without telling you? What have they already done to try and get rid of the bugs before giving up and finally telling you about the problem? What conditions are the tenants living in that had caused such a problem to occur? Are they frequently having unsavory visitors who are bringing the bed bugs in? Are they bringing in furniture from the side of the road? How did this happen? Am I as the owner liable for the treatment cost?

Tenants are often hesitant to tell the property management or owners that there is a bed bug problem. Why are tenants so afraid? The tenants think that if they say there is a bed bug problem that they will be blamed. They believe that the management will require them to pay for an expensive treatment that they cannot afford. They fear that if they can not afford the treatment then they will get evicted.

How do we know this? We get calls from tenants of rental homes and apartments every day. If they are a renter, our policy is to seek permission from the property management before visiting the property or providing treatment. Not all companies have the same policy. Many pest control companies will accept work from tenants of rental homes or apartments without seeking management approval.

Let’s say your previous tenant moved out and they had bed bugs but they never told you. You or your staff go the the recently vacated property any to find that not only did the tenants leave the house a mess, but they also left bed bugs. Sometimes tenants will leave most of their belongings in the rental in the hope that they will not bring bed bugs with them.

Many homeowners and management companies will clear out the home of all furniture and debris and dispose of them. If bed bugs are found during this process then they will either spray over the counter pesticide or hire a professional to kill the bed bugs.

Getting rid of bed bugs in a vacant house is more challenging than when it is occupied. The bugs will spread to all parts of the house looking for a blood meal. You may find bugs in the hallways, kitchens, and bathrooms (all areas where bed bugs are not usually found). The bugs may hide under the carpet,  in the walls, or behind wall plates or light fixtures because there is no furniture for them to live on.

You have dealt with bed bugs at this property in the past. You hired professional bed bug exterminators to get rid of the bed bugs. Now your current tenants are complaining of bed bugs in the same property. What do you do?

Most (if not all) owners or property management companies will not disclose to the new tenants that there were ever bed bugs in the home. The tenants may ask you if there was ever a bed bug problem in the home. Do you tell them about it? Probably not. Is that ethical? I suppose it would depend on the timeline and type of treatment that was performed.

Did the previous tenants have bed bugs? Or was it the tenants before them? If a tenant from the past had bed bugs, and then you had a tenant that did not have bed bugs, followed by a tenant that has bed bugs – then the first and third instances of bed bugs are likely unrelated. Unless the tenant between them did not notice the bed bugs or did not notify you of the problem.

The previous tenant vacated the property as described a few paragraphs back. They left the house a mess and filled with many belongings and furniture. Upon cleanout of the property you or your staff discovered live or dead bed bugs. The tenants never reported bed bugs. Maybe they tried to treat it themselves. Maybe they hired a company without seeking your permission.

The next ethical step would be to hire a professional extermination company who specializes in bed bug treatment. You can choose from either a pesticide treatment, a heat treatment, or a combination of both. In a vacant home the best option is a heat treatment combined with pesticde application because the heat will reach areas that pesticide cannot, and the pesticide will any bed bugs that may somehow escape the heat.

It is nearly impossible to kill bed bugs with pesticide in a vacant house. Even if the pesticide is reapplied every seven days for several weeks in a row. The bed bugs will find a place to hide from the pesticide. Once the bed bugs have realized that there is no bloodmeal available in the vacant home they are unlikely to move from their hiding place so they will not come in contact with the pesticide where it was applied.

Choosing the heat treatment will allow you to safely lease the property sooner than a pesticide treatment. The cost for heat treatment is usually double the cost of pesticide treatment for bed bugs. When you consider the reduced downtime you will experience with a heat treatment, the loss of rent will exceed the cost of heat treatment. Heat and spray the property and get new tenants in there sooner.

Let’s further discuss the timeline. You have new tenants in your rental home where you had a previous bed bug problem with the previous tenants.

Our opinion when the previous tenant had bed bugs: If the new tenants complain about bed bugs within the first three months, then the owner or property management should pay for the bed bug extermination at no cost to the new tenant. It is likely that there were bed bugs left over from the previous tenant so the new tenant is not at fault.

If the new tenant complains about bed bugs after three months then the bed bugs were more likely introduced by the new tenants. If the tenant is elderly, or visually impaired, then it becomes a little less clear who is at fault for introducing the bed bugs. A person who is visually impaired or elderly may not notice a bed bug problem for many months. Especially if they do not react to bed bug bites. Even if they so react to bed bug bites, they may not know where the bed bugs came from.

Are the tenants or the property management responsible for the cost of bed bug treatment? This will depend on two things: The lease agreement, and the state laws regarding bed bugs in rental properties. This is a hot issue in the property management community. As a rental property owner or property management company it is very important to seek legal counsel regarding bed bugs before you have a bed bug dispute.

Many lease agreements now adays not only mention pest control but also mention bed bugs specifically. Many lease agreements will include a bed bug addendum. The lease must comply with the state laws (if any) regarding bed bugs in rental properties. Seek legal counsel to protect yourself from bed bug disputes.

The following, nor any information on this page is legal advise.

The general rule for rental properties is that the owner or property management must provide a safe and habitable rental space. What if the home is safe and habitable when the lease agreement is executed, but then some time during the lease the property becomes unsafe or uninhabitable? What if the condition of the property has deteriorated due to actions of the tenant? These issues and more must be discussed with legal counsel and included in the lease agreement.

There are some states, such as Colorado, who have passed laws that protect tenants when it comes to the specific issue of bed bugs. Some states require that an owner or property manager must pay for bed bug treatment regardless of who is at fault. Please seek legal counsel to determine if these laws exist in your state and what you should do about them.