phillytenant.org

Landlord won’t pay to remediate bed bugs, but it’s a little more complicated. Who is liable? Location: Philadelphia, PA TL;DR: in our lease agreement, the tenant is liable for bed bug remediation, but under Philadelphia law, the landlord is liable for bed bug remediations. In addition to this, the landlord did not provide necessary documentation in our lease agreement, including the bed bug addendum, information flyer, or control plan. Who is liable to pay for the remediation? My roommates and I recently moved into a rowhome in Philadelphia this month, and have already had various issues. The landlord at this point seems to be willing to help us to an extent since three appliances in the house have broken within the first month, but a bed bug infestation has revealed itself, leaving bites up and down my roommates legs (evidence) In our lease agreement, bed bug remediation is listed as the tenants responsibility, but according to a [city ordinance](https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-280967), landlords are responsible for remediation in the first 365 days if properly notified, which we have, and has been acknowledged. Additionally, because no bed bug addendum, flyer, or remediation plan was attached to the lease, I think the landlord is technically in breach and we could break the lease if we’d like? Here is the tenants rights sheet I’ve been referring to: [tenants rights](https://phillytenant.org/help-i-have-bedbugs/) The landlord is claiming that we must’ve brought the bed bugs in because the home had been vacant for 8 months before we moved in (despite the fact that bed bugs can go months without feeding). The inspector we had take a look said it’s likely the bed bugs were in the baseboards as he was unable to find evidence on any furniture. No matter the fact of how they got here, not having written confirmation provided to us when signing the lease is a violation (I believe). Breaking the lease is not really the m