Apartment Building Cockroach Infestation Lawyer in Sacramento

If you are finding cockroaches in your home time and time again, you may be asking yourself, “What are my rights as a tenant regarding insects and other pests?” Under California law, apartment building owner and landlords must provide renters with a reasonably safe environment during their tenancy. There is some level of subjectivity when it comes to words like “safe,” but just about anyone can agree that a cockroach infestation has dangerous consequences for human beings.

When you are living under uninhabitable conditions, it’s essential to explore your rights and legal options with a tenant’s rights attorney. Contact Kenmore Law Group and schedule a free case review is your landlord or building management has failed to resolve a cockroach infestation in your apartment.

Health Concerns Over Cockroach Infestations

Many people are repulsed by the sight of cockroaches, and it’s not just because of the damage they cause to your belongings. Cockroaches are associated with serious health issues in humans, which include:

• Allergies: saliva and feces from cockroaches can trigger allergies in some people, which can cause or exacerbate skin rashes and asthma attacks.
• Infections: cockroaches carry bacteria and pathogen, which can lead to infections when the bugs come into contact with areas that are used for food preparation.
• Breathing problems: the debris from cockroaches creates airborne particles that can cause or worsen asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory conditions.
• Digestive disorders: Contamination of food, food prep surfaces, and utensils by cockroaches are associated with gastrointestinal problems and bacterial infections (foodborne illness)
• Emotional distress: the physical and mental strain of living with cockroaches on a daily basis can result in psychological distress

Keep in mind that there are many diseases that originate from cockroaches, such as Bacillus, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, and Mycobacterium. That’s why these pesky critters must be addressed right away, which is normally done by calling an exterminator.

How are Landlords Responsible for a Pest Infestation?

In California, landlords (including apartment leasing companies) have a duty to maintain habitable conditions in their rental units, and that includes taking care of any pest infestations. As a tenant, here are some important aspects of the law that you should be aware of:

• Implied warranty of habitability: the laws in California obligate landlords to provide tenants with a habitable living environment. A warranty of habitably can be breached when there are cockroaches in an apartment building.
• A landlord’s duty of care: an owner of a rental property has a duty to rectify pest infestations by methods such as extermination services and cleaning / sanitizing the premises. Not taking such actions constitutes negligence, meaning that the landlord can be sued for a cockroach infestation.
• Tenant responsibility: The primary responsibility to deal with cockroaches in an apartment building fall son the building owner and/or management company. However, tenants must also keep their unit in a clean and sanitary condition and notify management or the landlord immediately of an infestation.

Can I Stop Paying Rent because of a Cockroach Infestation?

No, just the fact that there are cockroaches in your apartment building does not give you the right to withhold rent payments. On the other hand, your landlord has a legal duty to maintain habitable conditions in the property you are renting from them.

If there are cockroaches in your apartment, the first step is to notify the landlord ofrthe management company in writing. You will need to give them a reasonable amount of time to fix the issue, which is normally 30 days. Keep in mind that multiple visits and remedies may be required, especially if the problem affects the entire building. So, completely eradicating the roaches can take more than 30 days based on the extent of the infestation.

If the owners or operators of the building fail to take any action within 30 days you may have the right to hire an exterminator on your own. At this point, you have the option to hold all rental payments in an escrow account, minus the cost of the exterminator fees. You may also have the right to end your lease without any penalties if you can show that the unit is uninhabitable.

Damages from a Cockroach Infestation Lawsuit

Due to the impact that cockroaches have on your health and finances, you are allowed to seek a variety of compensation from a pest infestation lawsuit against your landlord. These include:

• Medical expenses
• Value of damaged / destroyed property
• Cost of hiring an exterminator (if you were forced to do this yourself)
• Cost of staying at a hotel or another rental
• Moving costs if you ended your lease early and had to find another place to live
• Emotional distress due to increased anxiety, stress, insomnia, and other mental health issues

Some of these categories are difficult to quantify, but a cockroach infestation lawyer at our office can help you determine the right amount of compensation to ask for. This will vary from one individual to another, as it’s based on many factors that have to do with their physical and emotional suffering.

Contact a Sacramento Cockroach Infestation Lawyer

Negligence by a landlord can take place in many ways, and there’s no denying that a bug infestation is an extremely stressful situation to live with. But the state of California allows you to take legal action against an apartment building owner, which we can help you with here at Kenmore Law Group.

Our law firm provides free legal services under the Zero Fee Guarantee, where you as the victim pay $0 out of pocket. Instead, we agree to receive a percentage of your settlement at the end of your case, and this is the only form of payment we are owed. Thus, you have the reassurance of knowing that you owe us absolutely nothing if we don’t win your case.

We are here for you day and night, so give us a call and schedule a free case evaluation if you are living with cockroaches due to negligence by your landlord or building management company.