Landlord Responsibility for Bedbugs in Arizona | eHow

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Leah Waldron

Leah Waldron is a travel, research and LGBT news writer based in Boston. Writing in both print and online media, Waldron has contributed to "Curve Magazine," "USA Today," "Sun Sentinel," "The Houston Chronicle" and more. Waldron has a bachelor's and master's degree in creative writing from Florida State University and is currently working on her first novel.

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According to a November, 2010, article in Arizona State University's State Press news magazine, more than one million residents in the state have fallen victim to the bedbug epidemic, which has penetrated 12 to 15 percent of the state. When it comes to rental property bedbug extermination, responsibility is in the hands of both the tenant the landlord.

Under current Arizona law, the tenant is responsible for bedbug extermination, but new legislation is in the works to change this. The pressure to change extermination responsibility laws comes in the wake of new legislative measures across the nation such as New York's Bedbug Disclosure Act, which requires landlords to release any infestation records from the previous year to new and existing tenants.

In February of 2011, a new bill was sent to the Arizona state Senate that identifies shared responsibility for bedbug extermination between tenants and landlords. Arizona lawmakers have approved the new bill, but the state must pass the bill in 2011 for the new legislation to pass. Under the new law, all financial responsibility will fall on the landlord, but only if the tenant complies with certain pre-set obligations such as keeping his unit free of bedbug-infested materials.

Under the proposed February, 2011 legislation, landlords will be responsible for keeping a bedbug-free property, providing bedbug prevention and education literature to all tenants and picking up the bill for a licensed pest control company to examine the unit within seven days of a reported bedbug discovery. If bedbugs are found, the landlord must pay for extermination. Before the treatment starts, landlords must provide written notification within three business days of the first pest control application.

While the new bedbug legislation would place termination on the shoulders of the landlord, tenants also play a role in the extermination process, particularly when it comes to pre- and post-mitigation compliance. For example, under the new law, tenants must report an infestation immediately, provide open access to their apartments or rental units for extermination or examination purposes and comply with any pest control company procedures. Tenants are also responsible for keeping any bedbug-infested materials out of the apartment to help prevent future outbreaks.

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Landlord Responsibility for Bedbugs in Arizona | eHow

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