I do not know who — landlord or tenant — is responsible for bed bug treatment in New Haven. You need advice on the local housing code.

I looked at the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut (LARCC) website. They have a list of tenants’ rights and responsibilities, but nothing specific about pests.

That page led me to the New Haven Legal Assistance Association, which says of “Our Services,”

We provide advice, brief service, community education, policy advocacy and representation in the following areas, as well as others not listed.

. . . .

HOUSING

Evictions, Landlord/Tenant Disputes, Conditions/Repairs, Lockouts, Rent Increases, Homelessness Issues, Subsidized Housing Issues, Discrimination.

My sense is that they may be able to advise you as to whether pest control falls under the “conditions/repairs” landlords are required to provide, in New Haven, and if so, how to get this enforced.

New Haven Legal Assistance Association, Inc.
426 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06510-2018
Phone: 203.946.4811 Fax: 203.498.9271

(There’s an email on the website I linked to above.)

If you want to check on the housing code for New Haven, first, you could go into the main city/county library and ask at the Reference desk for someone to help you find out if tenants have to pay for pest treatment. Library reference desks exist to help with questions like that!

If it is the law that landlords pay for pest treatment, they may also be able to help you find out who to call to enforce it.

Please let us know what you find out, and good luck!

All the information we have is above.

The most important thing is to find out laws applying to your rental situation in your state. Please read my suggestions to robert who asks about laws in Dallas here.

Jen,

Have you looked into the local laws pertaining to rental units and pests? If not, please follow the link I just provided, and find out your local laws.

In some places, landlords are liable for treatment regardless of who caused the problem. In other places tenants are. It is sometimes also true that the person who is thought to cause the situation is responsible (as is the case in several parts of Canada) but there are also sometimes exceptions. So the most important thing is to find out your local laws.

At that point, you might look into a lawyer if the situation is murky or if it looks like you need to dispute responsibility for the infestation.

i live in an apt

In Washington State:
-The landlord is obligated to control pests before the tenant moves in. The landlord must continue to control infestations except in single family dwellings, or when the infestation was caused by the tenant

Both clauses from here: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cms/groups/pan/@pan/@publication/documents/web_informational/dpdp_018328.pdf

In theory, the Seattle law trumps the state law if it is stronger, which one could argue it is; though it seems unfortunately vague.

My property manager (who told me treatment isn’t necessary and all I have to do is bag my mattress, hahahahahahahahaha does he want a building-wide infestation?) refuses to pay for a PCO as he believes the infestation was caused by me. I’ve contacted a friend at the local tenants’ rights organization and will work with them to resolve this in a way that’s a little more equitable. We shall see.

In any case, there is widespread ignorance about bed bugs in Seattle. But no shortage of bed bugs. I’ll update if I learn anything more helpful than what I’ve posted so far.