Bedbugs- landlord question

[msalmondine]

Hi, I'm a first time landlord, who had to move south due to job relocation, so I decided to rent out my condo unit, which is 1 of a 12 unit dwelling. The unit was bedbug free when my tenant moved in 3 years ago . In February of this year she advised she had bedbugs. I subsequently had the unit professionally treated. Per CT state law the responsibility falls on the landlord? My tenant advised this morning that the bedbugs are back!!!! My question is: how many times as a landlord do I have to pay for treatment , as we are only 5 months out from the initial treatment service. Also, all condo owners pay property management fees, so I contacted the management office to see if we could have the entire building treated, but I was told no, that each unit had to deal with it on an individual basis, and that they didn't want to concern the other owners with what appears to an "isolated" occurence. I feel like I have no rights as a condo owner in a multi dwelling building in which I own only one unit, ad I can't afford to continue to pay for repeated treatment. How can the responsibility fall on me alone? This problem could be stemming from another unit..... Any advise would help. This is becoming a nightmare 😢😢😭😭😭

 

[LdiJ]

Hi, I'm a first time landlord, who had to move south due to job relocation, so I decided to rent out my condo unit, which is 1 of a 12 unit dwelling. The unit was bedbug free when my tenant moved in 3 years ago . In February of this year she advised she had bedbugs. I subsequently had the unit professionally treated. Per CT state law the responsibility falls on the landlord? My tenant advised this morning that the bedbugs are back!!!! My question is: how many times as a landlord do I have to pay for treatment , as we are only 5 months out from the initial treatment service. Also, all condo owners pay property management fees, so I contacted the management office to see if we could have the entire building treated, but I was told no, that each unit had to deal with it on an individual basis, and that they didn't want to concern the other owners with what appears to an "isolated" occurence. I feel like I have no rights as a condo owner in a multi dwelling building in which I own only one unit, ad I can't afford to continue to pay for repeated treatment. How can the responsibility fall on me alone? This problem could be stemming from another unit..... Any advise would help. This is becoming a nightmare 😢😢😭😭😭

Most likely the problem was created by your tenant, not by the building. Most likely your tenant or someone in her family stayed somewhere with bed bugs, and brought them home with them. There certainly is no reason to treat the whole building either.

You have a long term tenant. You may very well lose the tenant if you do not cooperate with the treatment, but the problem may continue to arise if the tenant or someone in her family stays somewhere else, that has bedbugs, part of the time.

 

[DeenaCA]

I would agree with post #2 if this were a single-family home, but it's a 12-unit building. The OP is correct that the problem could be coming from another unit. I doubt that the management company can know for sure that no other units are infested.

Connecticut passed a law last year governing landlord-tenant responsibility for bed bug treatment in multifamily dwelling units. Here's the law: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2016/ACT/pa/2016PA-00051-R00HB-05335-PA.htm. Here's a document from CT Legal Services concerning the new law: http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/bed_bugs/2016/specific_issues_concerning_p._a._16-51-bed_bugs_atty._raphael_podolsky.pdf.

The reason that landlords are generally responsible for bed bug treatment in multifamily units is that bed bugs can hibernate for long periods and can pass between units. According to HUD, infestations are rarely controlled by a single treatment. The landlord shouldn't assume that the family re-infested the unit by carrying in a new batch of bed bugs from somewhere else.

Here is a helpful article on the subject right here at FreeAdvice: https://real-estate-law.freeadvice.com/real-estate-law/landlord_tenant/who-pays-for-bed-bug-treatment-extermination.htm.