bedbug extermination

I recently contacted my landlord over a bedbug issue and she is requireing me to pay half of the extermination. Can they do this in indiana? My lease only lists a 50$ maintainance fee.

[sandyclaus]

Originally Posted by Unregistered I recently contacted my landlord over a bedbug issue and she is requireing me to pay half of the extermination. Can they do this in indiana? My lease only lists a 50$ maintainance fee.

I believe that the answer lies in how the bedbugs came to exist in your rental unit, not in whether or not it is listed in your lease.

How did the bedbugs get there? Is there any way that you could be partially or fully responsible for the infestation?

If the answer is NO, then it should be solely the LLs responsibility to cover the costs of extermination, not yours. LL is responsible for any costs to maintain the premises in a safe & habitable condition.

If the tenant is in any way responsible for why the repairs/maintenance needs to be done, then LL can and should hold tenant liable for part or all of the cost to restore the unit to the safe & habitable condition required by law. That is a LEGAL requirement that is implied in every rental/lease agreement whether listed or not.

This also depends on what type of rental you are in. If in an apartment unit, then you shouldn't be responsible since they could have come from some other unit or tenant. It could be someone else's fault. The LL couldn't prove who's fault this was.

If you are in a single family house, and you have been there a few months, you would be responsible for all costs since you would have had to bring them in yourself. (Have you bought any used furniture lately? Bags or boxes of clothing of books from storage? This is often how they arrive.)

I am a property manager at an apartment complex. We currently have an infestation of bed bugs. In a particular 4 plex, it has been determined which tenant brought them in. That tenant is liable for the costs of extermination and carpet replacement. The surrounding tenants; however, are all disabled tenants who have been evacuated at their own expense, and required to perform thier own preperations despite their disabilities.

I did ask the property's attorney who said that there is no landlord law stating that the property is required to pay the expense for the innocent tenants, but this just doesn't sit right with me.

What is your proffessional opinion?

How did you determine, by definite proof, which tenant caused the infestation? It would be nearly impossible to do this. And why does the carpet need replaced? Bedbugs can be exterminated in carpets. I'd be more worried about them being in the tenant's clothing, bedding, and other articles you can't spray.

I don't know what proof you have, but cannot see how you could definitively prove any one tenant in an apartment building caused the infestation. In this instance, I would think that the extermination costs for all units would fall on the LL, just as extermination of mice would. Had these been single family properties, you could hold the tenant responsible for their own extermination costs since the tenants themselves would have to have caused it. But in an apartment building, any tenant could have brought in a used piece of furniture, used clothing, a box, or suitcases with these bugs in them.