North Carolinas misguided Landlord/Tenant Bed bug …

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The North Carolina Senate will be considering a bill in 2012 that would have a huge impact on how landlords and tenants deal with bed bugs and who pays for treatment in the state.

H721, also known as the Landlord/Tenant/Bedbug Liability bill, passed in the North Carolina House in June. I have some concerns about its provisions.

The bill would prohibit landlords from renting a unit known to be infested by bed bugs. However, if the landlord gets an inspection from a licensed inspector, prior to leasing the unit, with a written report stating no bed bug evidence was found, then the landlord wont be liable if a problem is discovered later.

If the landlord does not get an inspection before renting the unit, and then a tenant complains bed bugs are present within 60 days of renting the unit, the landlord must hire someone to treat within five days of this complaint. All neighboring units must also be inspected.

Landlords must also provide educational materials about bed bugs to new tenants.

The bill also requires tenants to refrain from knowingly introducing bed bugs to the unit, stating: tenants shall not knowingly or recklessly introduce onto the premises any person or thing infested with bedbugs.

Tenants must notify landlords in writing within five days of suspecting they may have bed bugs.

If the landlord got an inspection before the tenant moved in, or if more than sixty days have passed since the tenant moved in, the tenant must pay all costs of bed bug treatment hiring a firm within seven days.

This tenant would also need to cover any fees charged by the licensee [PCO] and any damages associated with the presence and elimination of bedbugs from the premises and any attached units and spaces.

[Emphasis added.]

My concerns:

Heres just one way this could go horribly wrong:

The instinct behind the bill to make things fairer for landlords, and to force both landlords and tenants to work together to fight bed bugs is not a bad one.

I understand the need for landlords and tenants to share the burden of eliminating bed bug problems. It isnt fair for landlords to shoulder the entire costs of bed bug problems which are invariably brought in by tenants, guests, or maintenance workers, or which come from an attached building owned by someone else.

On the other hand, it also isnt fair to create a system in which responsibility can be evaded as simply as this, or where an inspection holds more weight than is due.

It really is not possible for inspectors to sign off on units with 100% certainty theyre clear.And tenants who dont report problems promptly but instead put up with the problem for a while will be rewarded when their neighbor gets bed bugs and reports their own problems, then becoming liable for the costs of treatment for all units.

You cant really legislate who pays for bed bug treatment based on the blame game. Blame for bringing bed bugs into a particular structure is just far too difficult to discern in many cases.

This bill was dreamed up by people who dont know a lot about how bed bugs operate, or how difficult it is to determine with 100% certainty whether theyre present or not. Not surprisingly, it was initiated by a rental housing industry group.

Because posts about legislation under consideration often cause confusion to readers, I stress that this bill has not been made into a law, but be warned: it will come up for consideration in the North Carolina Senate in 2012.

You can download the full text of H721 from the North Carolina General Assemblys website (PDF).

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North Carolinas misguided Landlord/Tenant Bed bug ...