Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian’s bed bug legislation, AB 551, establishes protocols and duties for rental property owners and tenants to follow when bed bugs are identified in a rental unit.
Assemblyman Adin Nazarian
All interested parties and members of the California Legislature worked diligently this year on the legislation. More work remains, however, before all interested parties are content with the final bill language. They have all vowed to continue their work in January.
As written, the bill would do a number of things:
Requirements for landlords
- Requires use of Addendum to Rental Agreement (bed bug identification, importance of reporting promptly, tenant duties), like that currently used by CAA.
- When infestation is reported by a tenant, verify and bring in a pest control operator (PCO) as necessary to inspect unit(s)
- Use a pest control operator (PCO) who will follow National Pest Management Association (NPMA) Guidelines
- Report inspection findings to tenants and provide information regarding planned controls and unit preparation responsibilities.
- Contract with PCO who will follow NPMA Guidelines to control bed bugs.
- Develop ongoing management program to prevent reinfestation, monitoring, education, maintenance of complaint log, etc.
Requirements for tenants
- Report any suspected infestations promptly (tenant is protected from retaliation by the owner for reporting)
- Prepare unit for treatment as directed by the PCO.
- Handle personal property as directed by PCO (i.e., running clothing through hot dryer).
- Notify owner if unit will not be ready on time – bill includes process for a single three day extension.
- Allow entry for inspection, control, and ongoing monitoring (if necessary) by landlord or PCO.
- Prohibits tenant from bringing infested items into the unit.
Duties, liability protection, and enforcement of the protocols
- All tenant duties are enforceable by the landlord with a three-day notice to comply.
- Owner is not liable to other tenants for delays related to a tenant’s non-compliance.
- As long as owner follows the process in the bill, affected units will not “substandard” or “uninhabitable”
- The owner will have no liability for delay outside of his/her control (i.e., PCO not available, unit is not prepared, etc.)
- Units in which process is being followed are not be declared substandard or uninhabitable, even if they still have bed bugs.