Whom is responsible for bedbugs in a rental home – the landlord or the tenant?
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Whom is responsible for bedbugs in a rental home – the landlord or the tenant?
We are covered with bedbugs in our rental home which we pay $3,200 a month for with a 1 year lease. Who is responsible for exterminator bills? It’s a private home that we are renting.
Asked on July 25, 2016 under Real Estate Law, New York
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
To oversimplify somewhat (since each case is based on its exact facts):
1) Usually, the landlord is responsible for extermination and maintaining a pest free premises, under the implied warranty of habitability, which obligates landlords to provide rentals which are hygienic and fit for inhabitation; but
2) If it can be shown that the tenants introduced the bedbugs to the home, such as salvaging or buying used furniture which had bedbugs in it, or by bringing them back with their luggage from an infested hotel, then the tenant would be responsible for the costs.
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