Saturday, September 27, 2008

Rent is free if you have bedbugs

In New York City, landlords are responsible for getting rid of bed bugs in infested buildings and units and they must pay for extermination.

This was not always the case, but a turning point was a 2004 case, Ludlow Properties, LLC, vs. Young, in which Judge Cyril Bedford sided with a tenant who refused to pay rent for six months because of a persistent bed bug problem.


Bedbugs Emerge as New Area of Housing Law

A lawyer at Shafer Glazer, LLP, Timothy Wenk, said the Bedford decision has rippled through the legal community. He said the case reversed a long-standing decision in a 1908 case, Jacobs v. Morand, which held that tenants must pay rent regardless of vermin infestation.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

when the rain falls it falls on everyone's head.

can't wait until the bedbugs go into housing court and wind up in the judge's pockets.

Anonymous said...

Actually, two NYC housing courts (Livington St,, Brooklyn, and Centre St, Manhattan) have already had alleged bed bug infestations in the courtroom.

See here and here

Anonymous said...

circulate some fliers on the streets
in Spanish to inform all those Latino day workers that they don't have to pay rent for their dormitory lodgings if they're "bugged".

Oops,
they don't dare report their landlord to the authorities if they themselves are illegals!

Anonymous said...

Ah, one of the many pleasures of rubbing elbows with our 3rd world newbies in any public venue!

I'm itchy already! Better get "Raid"!