Q: Is our landlord responsible for bed bugs and are they allowed to disclose that we have them to our new landlords?
We are buying out our current apartment lease because of a bed bug problem. Our landlords tell us that this is our issue so we had to pay for the exterminator. The main reason we are leaving is because asking speaking with the exterminators it does not appear like we brought them in and our current landlord refuses to check the other units in our building. We told them we are buying out our lease because we don't want to pay for their removal just to have them come back. We found a new apartment complex and our current landlords decided to inform our future landlord of our "big bed bug problem" in what I can only assume as an attempt to get our application to the new complex denied. Is ANY of this legal? What are our options from here?
A: Now would be a good time to take a trip to your local legal aid office and inquire about landlord tenant law. It is likely the bedbugs are the landlord's problem and a violation of something called the implied warranty of habitability. That's a legal concept that requires all landlords to provide generally habitable conditions. Telling the other place is a little more tricky. It may be slanderous, if it is isn't true, but the damage is done there. A lawsuit regarding the other issues might shut the landlord up though.
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