BED BUG BS! what the landlord's aren't doing (apartment complex, lease)

[statonious]

My fiance and I moved into our first apartment together on 11/28/15. We had been living in the same house with another couple for 3 years and decided it was time to get our own place. On the morning of 11/29/15, we woke up to find BED BUGS!!! We had never even seen one before and had literally only been moved in for 12 hours. Needless to say we were shocked and appalled and desperate for help. We informed the complex immediately and they offered to have their pest control services come to inspect the apartment. The technician confirmed the infestation and asked how long we had been in the apartment, and after I informed him it had been less than 24 hours at that point he said "you could have been here for 4 days and there still wouldn't be this amount of fecal matter under the carpet." We knew we didn't bring them in, so we were comforted that this technician would be informing the complex that it wasn't our fault.

If only it were that simple.

It's now been 9 weeks and the administration, in all of it's infinite wisdom, has decided that they are going to stop doing treatments. They are accusing us of bringing them in from an outside source. Two weeks ago the technician said he thinks that they are infested in the wall between our bedroom and living room and said he wanted to drill holes in the wall to inject chemicals. Last week he said they are in our beds and we should get bed bags (which we have already ordered.) The pest control company has a warranty on their work that they will continue to do treatments until the infestation is gone but the apartment complex has stopped authorizing it. Isn't there some legal obligation for them to fulfill their warranty?

Mind you, since these little red devils have taken our livelihood, we have secluded ourselves from outside contact. No one has come over to our place and we don't go anywhere but work and to his mother's house for laundry. I've asked my associates at work if they would be willing to testify that they don't have bugs in a court of law and they are all willing to do so. We would even be willing to pay for a technician to go to my work and his mother's house to do an inspection and testify that they are not infested.

Short of breaking the lease and spending all of my future earnings on a lawyer, does anyone have any advice? There's a clause in our lease that says we can't slander the complex i.e. contact 3 On Your Side without risking eviction. I'm assuming an eviction will look much worse on our record than a lease buy-out? We aren't looking for some grand compensation or to pull a fast one on the complex, we just want our lives back.

[john3232]

I`m not an AZ RE lawyer but I think you can legally break the lease without a penalty in this instance. However, you will need to clearly document the problem.

So is it the position of property management the exterminator has solved the problem? However, the bugs return because you bring them in from the outside? Is this why PM have stopped the pest control treatment?

Is the exterminator who told you about the drilling holes walls/injecting chemicals someone you called in?

Or is this a PM vendor?

[JGMotorsport64]

You should be able to break the lease, but if you're going to go the lawyer route any Bill and Larry, PLLC firm should be able to handle a simple claim like this. Most lawyer billing is drafting and research, organize your materials and be coherent when meeting with them. A lot of time lawyers charge long hours because it takes a long time to figure out what is happening, so get it concise and together. Industry rule: the best lawyers don't need to advertise and often work in small groups.

Dont go to the news yet if ever.

[AZ Manager]

You are looking at 2 laws here that will govern your situation, 3 kind of but ARS 33-1319 doesn't really help at this point. ARS 33-1361 will tell you what notice to give and how, they are in violation of ARS 33-1324(A)(2) quoted below with a link at the bottom of the quote.

33-1324. Landlord to maintain fit premises
A. The landlord shall:

1. Comply with the requirements of applicable building codes materially affecting health and safety as prescribed in section 9-1303.

2. Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition.

3. Keep all common areas of the premises in a clean and safe condition.

4. Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by him.

5. Provide and maintain appropriate receptacles and conveniences for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish and other waste incidental to the occupancy of the dwelling unit and arrange for their removal.

6. Supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times, reasonable heat and reasonable air-conditioning or cooling where such units are installed and offered, when required by seasonal weather conditions, except where the building that includes the dwelling unit is not required by law to be equipped for that purpose or the dwelling unit is so constructed that heat, air-conditioning, cooling or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant and supplied by a direct public utility connection.

B. If the duty imposed by subsection A, paragraph 1 of this section is greater than any duty imposed by any other paragraph of this section, the landlord's duty shall be determined by reference to that paragraph.

C. The landlord and tenant of a single family residence may agree in writing, supported by adequate consideration, that the tenant perform the landlord's duties specified in subsection A, paragraphs 5 and 6 of this section, and also specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations and remodeling, but only if the transaction is entered into in good faith, not for the purpose of evading the obligations of the landlord and the work is not necessary to cure noncompliance with subsection A, paragraphs 1 and 2 of this section.

D. The landlord and tenant of any dwelling unit other than a single family residence may agree that the tenant is to perform specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations or remodeling only if:

1. The agreement of the parties is entered into in good faith and not for the purpose of evading the obligations of the landlord and is set forth in a separate writing signed by the parties and supported by adequate consideration.

2. The work is not necessary to cure noncompliance with subsection A, paragraphs 1 and 2 of this section.

3. The agreement does not diminish or affect the obligation of the landlord to other tenants in the premises.

Format Document

Your best bet is to go to the link below and read up. Arizona sucks for tenants but these guys are awesome, Arizona Tenants Advocates is a non-governmental group that fights for tenant rights in AZ and probably the biggest reason our laws are pretty fair for both parties. The link is straight to their bedbug article. Oh and they will give free consultations.

https://www.arizonatenants.com/bedbugs.htm