Help! My Tenants are INFESTED!

Every property manager has been there, whether residential or commercial. They get a phone call at an inconvenient time of day, only to be informed that there is an infestation. For commercial properties, the infestation is often mice, rats, or other rodents. As for residential properties, tenants usually complain about cockroaches, drain flies, and bed bugs.

So, what happened? Did you rent to the wrong person? Is it going to cost you hundreds of dollars to fix it? How can you prevent it in the future?

First thing you need to remember as a property manager – It’s not your fault.

You did not walk around the building passing out cockroaches or bed bugs. You did not invite mice and rats to nest within the walls of the building once the weather decided to change. However true these things are, the following comes as no surprise to any property manager who has been in the industry for more than a few hours: It still is your problem.

The second thing you need to remember as a property manager – It may not be your tenant’s fault.

About a year ago, while visiting my friend’s home in New York City, he complained to me that they were continually having a cockroach problem. I asked the same questions I ask every customer: are you taking out your garbage frequently? Are there consistent pools of water in sinks, bathtubs or showers? Where are you seeing them?

My friend replied, “You’ve known me for over a decade, you know I’m continuously wiping down my counters and never let dishes sit in the sink unless they are soaking after being cooked in and even than its only ever ten minutes. The garbage is taken out every evening when I get home from work, but I keep seeing them EVERYWHERE.”

I let him know I’d continue think on it. The following day, we sat in his apartment before going out to a restaurant. It was then I finally noticed construction happening in the building next door. I asked him how long that had been going on? No more than a month. How long had he noticed the roaches again? A few Saturdays ago… Bingo.

Tenants will be frustrated because, much in the same way YOU did not pass out cockroaches or bed bugs, your tenant may not be the culprits either. Maybe it happened over Thanksgiving or Christmas when a tenants’ reclusive Uncle came over for the first time and brought his own house guests with him. Maybe your tenant sat in the wrong seat on the bus to a job interview and picked up a bed bug. Maybe the building or apartment next door is infested and it’s gotten bad enough to affect where your tenant is residing or leasing. Whatever the reason may be, you and your tenant now have the same goal – to get rid of the infestation. And how do you go about curing this situation? Together.

The third thing you need to remember as a property manager – IPM solutions need to be tailored to your property.

You as the property manager must steer the ship in this endeavor for the sake of your property and the comfort of your tenant. In order to get rid of the infestation, you must ensure that your tenant is keeping a proper standard of cleanliness to keep from exacerbating the situation. It is also imperative that you have a proper integrated pest management solution set up. If you don’t know what an integrated pest management (IPM) solution is, feel free to find resources on that here on the EPA’s website.

The 4 aspects of all IPM plans need to have are prevention, monitoring, action, and control. In a more realistic way, here is how it relates to you:

Prevention: You and your tenant both need to be working hand-in-hand to ensure the prevention of any infestation, because the easiest infestation to treat is the one that doesn’t exist. This will require you to ensure that your buildings are properly sealed from any pest trying to get inside. Make sure you have preventative mechanisms that draw insects away from doors or windows which may be the only pathways inside. Controlling any leaks, debris, or rubbish will isolate any pest that make their way inside from any resources which would incline them to stay or worse, thrive. Because it’s a dual effort between you and your tenant, a prevention plan will also require you to make your tenant explicitly understand the standards that you have set and your expectations while they are renting your property. This may imply a list of expectations agreed to in the rental agreement or lease and a regularly scheduled inspection.

Monitoring: It is important that your tenants keep vigilant to any type of pest, especially since they will probably spend more time in and on your property than you will for the duration of their lease. Let them know that if they see pests within the premises, to inform you immediately. Further instruct them to take a picture or catch the critter to allow for proper identification. All property managers, for the sake of providing an adequate service to the property owner or to maintain their own properties properly, should be acquainted with the problem pests in their geographic location. If there arises a situation where a pest is located within the premises, a property manager, on their own, should be able to identify the pest using the internet or identification books to decide what course of action they need to take. However, considering there are thousands of species of pests, a manager should never be ashamed to reach out for help from a professional.

Action: This part of the plan is one that most property managers have an issue with for one reason: it requires them to trust their tenants. The point of action is much less dependent on your opinion as the property manager, and more dependent on the opinion your tenant has on the situation. The job of a property manager is to ensure the habitability of a tenant so that they will continue to rent from you. With that said, if your tenant has an issue with pests, you have an issue with pests; if your tenant has an infestation; you have an infestation. However, if your tenant moves because of pest, they no longer have a problem, but you certainly still do and you will have to get rid of it regardless. Take time to understand the concerns of your tenant, investigate thoroughly and decide if their concerns are valid and require action or if they are just fishing for a problem.

Control: Despite your best efforts, it will not change that one day you will get the phone call about an infestation because as your occupation has taught you already, you can’t control everything. For the safety of private individuals, there are very few (if any) instances where an unlicensed person can treat a property. That means a licensed private applicator will need to apply pesticides in all situations. Sometimes this can get expensive for the property manager or tenant, however, there are ways to make it easier on yourself. Establish a relationship with your pest management professional (PMP), get a contract with them, use the local guys; all of these things will not only affect the price you’ll be paying, but certainly the effort they put into the job that they do for you.