Landlord and Tenant Rights and Responsibilities

questions & answers

Question: We have bed bugs in our unit and the old landlord was supposed to treat for them but did not before they sold the unit is the new landlord responsible for treating for bed bugs

Answer: The first step is to review your rental agreement.  It may very well cover the subject of who is responsible to pay for treating bedbugs.  If there is nothing in the rental agreement, the situation is covered by Arizona Revised Statutes, section 33-1319.  First, as the tenant, you must provide written notice to the landlord of the bedbug infestation.  If there is nothing about bedbugs in the lease and if you live in an apartment or other multiple housing unit, the statute assumes the responsibility for treating the bedbugs belongs to the landlord.  If you have given the new landlord written notice, and he does not take action to treat the problem, you can take the actions spelled out in section 33-1361.  You notify the landlord, in writing, that you consider his failure to treat the bedbugs to be a material breach of the rental agreement and that he has 5 days to fix the problem.  If it is not fixed in 5 days, you consider the lease to be terminated.  For more detailed information about the remedies offered in the Arizona Residential Landlord/Tenant Act, look at the statute.  You can find the statutes on the Arizona Legislature's website, azleg.gov.  Once you are logged onto the website, look under "legislative council" to find the statutes.