re: #246 KGxvi

Ironically, if a leased property is infested with bedbugs, that is probably a breach of the warranty of habitability, a breach which would allow a tenant (normally), to withhold rent until it is cured (or to pay for remediation themselves). I don’t know enough about the jurisdictional rules wherever he has these properties, but usually breach of the warranty of habitability is a valid defense in unlawful detainer (eviction) proceedings. If the tenant/defendants failed to raise bedbugs as an issue, they may (unfortunately) be barred from pursuing a later claim.

“Jurisdictional rules”? I know that in New York (NYC especially), a landlord who rents a tenant a bedbug-infested unit (like most other “habitability” issues) is, under the law, either 1) required to remedy the issue at their expense, or 2) credit the tenant for fixing the problem themselves. Of course, in reality, neither solution is applied with any equitability - it usually involves lengthy procedure in Housing Court. At least here in NY, we have such procedures, in Georgia, who knows???