Bed bugs are a serious issue for property managers and building owners. A pest control budget that used to be 90% general and 10% bed bugs has now flipped to be predominantly bed bug extermination costs. It is critical to have a plan in place to protect your tenants AND your bottom line. We run into a few common scenarios with our property management clients and building owners. The common goal is of course to prevent bed bugs, prevent them from spreading to other units, and hold responsible parties accountable financially. Let us guide you through the process, providing all of the information needed to understand the risk factors and create a custom tailored plan for your property and tenants.  

Common Bed Bug Issues in Rentals and Apartments

Most commonly, we see property managers and building owners battling tenants bringing bed bugs in. Tenants are moving in with bed bugs, or otherwise bringing bed bugs in during their lease,  and then you end up paying the expense. By the time a situation comes to light, the expenses far outweigh a normal deposit. The solution is to include a bed bug addendum in the lease agreement, and ensuring any units are bed bug free prior to a new tenant moving in using a certified bed bug K9 inspection. A bed bug K9 inspection not only shows good faith effort, it stands up in court far beyond a visual observation or maintenance statement. 
Click here to view a sample bed bug addendum. This document is for reference only and should not be used without consulting proper legal advice. No information located on this website should be construed as formal legal advice.

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  Effective treatment, prevention and K9 inspections are critical for rentals. If you have tenants moving into units that are already infested in bed bugs, this keeps the expense and blame on you, causing serious cost and reputation issues in addition to exposing other tenants to bed bugs.  Self treating can be ineffective and a huge liability, particularly in Ohio where it is illegal to self treat if there are four or more units under one roof.    Professionally treating individual units and implementing preventative maintenance in common areas, hallways, stairways, etc. is essential.  Implement routine dog inspections of all common areas and routine tenant inspections to ensure issues are not being hidden to avoid financial responsibility, and potentially putting more units and tenants at risk.