The Bedbug Problem

They're the scourge of hobo encampments and hot-sheet motels. To impressionable children everywhere, they're a snippet of nursery rhymes, an abstract foe lurking beneath the covers that emerges when mommy shuts the door at night. But bedbugs on Park Avenue? Ask the horrified matron who recently found her duplex teeming with the blood-sucking beasts. Or the tenants of a co-op on Riverside Drive who spent $200,000 earlier this month to purge their building of the pesky little thugs. The Helmsley Park Lane was sued two years ago by a welt-covered guest who blamed the hotel for harboring the critters. The suit was quietly settled last year.

Bed bugs were once a common public health pest worldwide, which declined in incidence through the mid-20th century. Recently, however, bed bugs have undergone a dramatic resurgence and worldwide there are reports of increasing numbers of infestations. Bed bugs are one of the great travelers of the world and are readily transported via luggage, clothing, bedding and furniture. As such, they have a worldwide distribution.

Here are some common facts about these beasts: Bed bugs are persistent. Getting rid of them requires persistence. Bed bugs can hide in extremely small cracks and crevices making it difficult to locate breeding sites. Bed bugs are rarely seen in daylight. They emerge from their hiding spots at night. Bed bugs can live a year or longer without food (e.g., human blood) and thus stay in their hiding places. Bed bugs can travel long distances and survive in suitcases, clothing, vehicles, aircraft, cruise ships and other modes of transportation. Bed bug females lay about 300 eggs. Baby bed bugs hatch from eggs in 10 days.

The stigma attached to these parasites is influencing some hotels and landlords to ignore infestations or treat them without professional help. Lack of professional treatment comes with great risks, notably the possibility of litigation.

California Civil Code § 1941 requires that a lessor of a building intended for the occupation of human beings must, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, put it into a condition fit for such occupation, and repair all subsequent dilapidations thereof, which render it untenantable. A rental unit must be fit to live in; that is, it must be habitable. In legal terms, "habitable" means that the rental unit is fit for occupation by human beings and that it substantially complies with state and local building and health codes that materially affect tenants' health and safety. Additionally, while the unit is being rented, the landlord must repair problems which make the rental unit unfit to live in, or uninhabitable. The landlord has this duty to repair under the California Supreme Court case, called Green v. Superior Court, which held that all residential leases and rental agreements contain an implied warranty of habitability. Under the "implied warranty of habitability," the landlord is legally responsible for repairing conditions that seriously affect the rental unit's habitability. That is, the landlord must repair substantial defects in the rental unit and substantial failures to comply with state and local building and health codes. Moreover, housing regulations adopted to preserve the health and safety of the community require the landlord to keep the premises free from vermin. While there are few published cases addressing the liability of landlords for bedbug infestation, in a recent New York case entitled Ludlow Properties, LLC. v Peter H. Young , a landlord commenced an eviction proceeding against a tenant seeking, in addition to eviction, unpaid rents for the rental unit. The tenant claimed a breach of warranty of habitability defense stemming largely from the presence of bedbugs in the premises. The trial was held on April 22, 2004 and the trial court found that the bed bugs did not constitute mere annoyance, but constituted an intolerable condition, notwithstanding the landlord's efforts to exterminate them. The tenant was therefore entitled a rent reduction of 45 % for the period of time tenant had bedbugs until the time the bedbugs were eradicated. In another landmark case, a motel chain in the United States was successfully sued for $382,000 after guests were bitten by bedbugs [Matthias v. Accor, 2003].

As the previous cases illustrate, a landlord, despite his diligent efforts to eradicate bedbug infestations, may be subject to rent reductions, property damage claims, as well as claims for constructive eviction. For example, a tenant could file a Rent Board petition against a landlord alleging decrease services as a result of an alleged bedbug infestation. Such a claim may very well obtain redress from the Rent Board in the form of a rent reduction despite the landlord’s attempts to deal with and ultimately solve the problem. In addition, while to date no tenant has brought a case for constructive eviction to the California Court of Appeal because of bedbug infestation, we will no doubt see a wave of such cases, especially with the dramatic resurgence of bedbugs in recent times. Such a case, if successful, could subject a landlord to huge financial liability given the trebling of damages under the San Francisco Rent Ordinance.

Landlords who encounter claims of bedbug infestation should address those claims immediately by seeking professionals who can swiftly and effectively deal with the problem. The mere presence of bedbugs could at the very least subject a landlord to possible rent reduction and in the worst case scenario subject a landlord to lawsuits for constructive eviction. While there is a possibility that a landlord may successfully defend a such a lawsuit, the costs of doing so will be no doubt be much higher than paying professionals to deal with the bedbug infestation, an infestation which could, if left unfettered, effect not only one unit, but your whole building. Ignoring the alleged problem or attempting to deal with it your self will only increase your potential liability.

Good Night, Sleep Tight and Don’t’ Let the Bedbugs Bite!

Daniel R. Stern, Esq.
Wasserman-Stern Law Offices