Bugs in rented room, argh!

saver6

Hi,
My friend is seriously stressed and I'm hoping you good people might be able to help me advise her. 3 weeks ago, she found loads of bugs in her rented room in a shared house. She moved out and contacted the landlord who brought her a new bed and arranged for a fumigation to happen, then two weeks later another fumigation to follow this.

In the meantime it was not safe to live in the house as she felt totally freaked out and there is a possibility that the bugs has caused a load of skin problems she's been having the past few months (which has really been making her depressed as she's had to go private to try and find the cause with still no luck - it might be the cause, it might not be). She hasn't lived there now for 3 weeks, and the landlord gave her back two weeks rent as a 'gesture of 'goodwill'....

The second fumigation happened on Friday so she tried to move back in last night and found some bugs still alive so has had to move back out again straight away, they are arranging another fumigation for another 2 weeks time. What to do now though? She simply doesn't want to go back there at all now (understandably). SHe has to give 1 month's notice but surely this is a special case? She is paid up until 30th May in rent so if she just leaves then she will lose a months rent.

Is there anything that she can do? Does she have any rights? I think she simply wants to be able to move out without losing the paid-up rent. She has temp accomodation at her boyfriends but it's not ideal as that too is a shared place.

Thanks

Mischa

It does sound nasty, but, she chose to use private medical care and she chose to move out, it is likely she has scabies, these little bugs live in the skin and make their owner incredibly itchy and raw, especially on limbs. She should legal advice if she wants to take it further to ensure everything she does is by the book.

N79

Difficult one. LL is clearly doing all they can - the two week gap is to allow any remaining eggs to hatch so that these bugs can also be killed. Did the LL / bug extermination people say the room was uninhabitable or was this your friends view (understandable but legally there is a huge difference).

Finally, has the source of the bugs been identified? Could it have been your friend? Eg has she returned from exotic travel in the last couple of months.

ceh209

IF the property/room is deemed uninhabitable, then the landlord has to provide suitable alternative accommodation (and your friend has to carry on paying her normal rent).

Has the landlord agreed it was not safe to live in the house, or was that your friend's decision?

Mankysteve

What kind of bugs are we walking about?

The fumigators should have identified before they started.

As other have said all boils to wherever the room is uninhabitable or not.

maninthestreet

If the bugs are visible to the naked eye, they are unlikrly to be scabies - possibly bed bugs?

saver6

She's not after suing anyone or anything like that, she just wants to know if she has any recourse for a rental refund for the next month as she is now convinced that her skin complaint was an allergic reaction to them and thus does not want to stay there anymore (she told me that thinking about it, it has been much more manageable the past couple of weeks - it has been quite serious - lumps, rashy broken skin, aching joints, migraines, all sorts of horrible things, not just a slight rash and an itch!).

She was told by the fumigators that it was safe to move back in after the first fumigation but but that she would still be bitten for the 2 weeks until the 2nd fumigation was done, whcih she didn't want to have to contemplate (would you??). But fair enough that as it was deemed habitable that she wouldn't be entitled to alternative accomodation.

Other housemates have been affected but haven't had the same skin complaints.

Like I said, she's not interested in suing anyone or claiming back for medical bills, she just wants to know if she could even ask about getting the next month's rent refunded...

Cheers for help so far tho.

N79

Well she can (and should) ask, and I'm sure many reasonable LL's will understand and be flexible (provided your friend was not the cause of the infestation) but in the circumstances you discribe she probably has no legal right to a refund.

Negotiation is the key here.

saver6

I've advised her of all this now... I think she is simply going to ask the landlord but she has realised now that she is not legally entitled. I'll let you know what happens.

Poor thing tho, she's so stressed out, what with her skin problems, now has nowhere "proper" to live, and probably now not enough cash for a new rental deposit . If I didn't live 30 miles away from her I'd offer her my place to stay indefinitely....

Soot2006

If it is a shared house, what's her relationship if any to the other tenants? Did they move in together, sign a contract together? If she moves out do they have to leave/does she need to find her own replacement tenant? All these things will help determine how "easy" it is for the LL to "let her go" -- he sounds like a decent LL so probably willing to discuss things, but probably less so if it means losing months and months of rent ...

saver6

No, they all rent seperately under individual contracts to the landlord, so there shouldn't be any issues there.