Landlord Can't Bill Tenant for Bed Bug Extermination Services
LVT Number: #26544
Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge after landlord charged tenant for the extermination of bed bugs in tenant’s apartment. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund any fees collected for bed bug extermination. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord’s exterminator treated tenant’s apartment for bed bugs in January 2010. Landlord tenant billed tenant $325, broken into monthly installments for about a year. It was landlord’s responsibility to provide extermination services, and there was no claim or proof that tenant had caused the condition, even though landlord claimed it was billing tenant for treatment of tenant’s furniture and personal property.
North Lane Apartment LP: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. DP910039RO (8/26/15) [3-pg. doc.]