questions & answers

Question: I moved into an apartment in April and had specifically asked the manager if they had bed bugs and he said no..I asked about roaches he said a few here and there well both myself and neighbor have them she is more infested than I am but I'm a cardiac patient on blood thinners with other health issues is it the landlord responsible to provide the extermination services

Answer: A.R.S. (Arizona Revised Statutes) 33-1319 of the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act prohibits landlords from knowingly renting out dwellings with bedbug infestations. It does not specifically require landlords to pay to exterminate bedbugs discovered during the course of a tenancy. However, under A.R.S. 33-1324, landlords are required to “do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition.” If a tenant believes that a bedbug infestation either existed before they moved in or originates from another unit, then the tenant may wish to ask the landlord in writing to pay to exterminate the bedbugs, citing the landlord’s duty under A.R.S. 33-1324.