Tenant seeking compensation following a bed bug infestation.

JN001

Hi,
I am wondering if anybody could give me some advise on the following:
I have a 4 bedroom flat in the greater London area , rented to the current tenants since 29th September 19 under a AST agreement.
I have appointed the letting agent to manage the property for me and on 30th Jan 20 I received a call to inform me that one of the tenants had made a complaint about a bed
bug infestation in her room..
I gave the go ahead for a pest controller to visit the property and carry out treatment without delay.
The pest controller visited the property, said "the room was not overly infested but need to be treated before it got worse", he informed the tenant that they could not stay in the room while the treatment was carried out and that this would take a 10 day period.

The treatment has now been carried out , the tenant stayed in an Air B&B while the treatment was ongoing.

The tenant has now claimed that she first noticed bites in mid-October but had only reported this to her parents at the time, and not to the letting agent. She has forwarded photos and text messages to the letting agent that seem to support the fact she had received bites by Nov 30th 2019.

At the time of the pest treatment the tenants father became involved in the correspondence over and back between the letting agent and the tenant.
He went into detail to explain that there was no way( in his opinion) that his daughter could have brought the bed bugs into the room, and that they must have been present before she arrived.
He made a request that his daughter be reimbursed the cost of her accommodation for the 10 days, the cost for her to launder her clothes(as recommended by the pest controller) , and compensation for her trauma and suffering for the period this has been going on. 

I responded to the letting agent to say that I had no intention of offering compensation of any sort, from my point of view if the problem existed in Oct/Nov19 then it should have been reported to the letting agent so that it could have been dealt with before it became a major issue. I also highlighted that although the tenants father outlined in detail that his daughter could not possibly have brought the bed bugs into the room , in my opinion there are many ways in which the bed bugs could have been introduced to the room in the time of her tenancy, like a friend visiting or returning from a trip etc. There had been no reports of bed bugs from the previous tenants and when informed of the issue I instructed the treatment to go ahead immediately.

The tenant's father has since responded back to say he has sought legal advise from 3 separate practices and that they have told him he has a strong case against me. He states:

"The presiding advice being that landlords are legally obligated to provide habitable living conditions and there is no reasonable grounds to ascertain that the tenant  brought the bed bugs with her from her previous residence. Compensation claim calculators seem to indicate potential claims ranging from £6,700 to £97,500 depending on the severity of the bites and whether the bites result in permanent scaring."

He goes on to make a settlement offer of £3140 based on the 5 months rent she had paid to date plus the cost of her 10 days accommodation and the cost to launder her clothes.

From my point of view I feel I have acted perfectly reasonably by instructing the bed bug issued be dealt with as soon as it was brought to my attention and I fail to see what grounds the tenant or her father would have to bring a case against me.

Does anyone have any experience of a similar situation or have any advise on how I should proceed?

Thank you in advance.

[Deleted User]

JN001 said:

Hi,
I am wondering if anybody could give me some advise on the following:
I have a 4 bedroom flat in the greater London area , rented to the current tenants since 29th September 19 under a AST agreement.
I have appointed the letting agent to manage the property for me and on 30th Jan 20 I received a call to inform me that one of the tenants had made a complaint about a bed
bug infestation in her room..
I gave the go ahead for a pest controller to visit the property and carry out treatment without delay.
The pest controller visited the property, said "the room was not overly infested but need to be treated before it got worse", he informed the tenant that they could not stay in the room while the treatment was carried out and that this would take a 10 day period.

The treatment has now been carried out , the tenant stayed in an Air B&B while the treatment was ongoing.

The tenant has now claimed that she first noticed bites in mid-October but had only reported this to her parents at the time, and not to the letting agent. She has forwarded photos and text messages to the letting agent that seem to support the fact she had received bites by Nov 30th 2019.

At the time of the pest treatment the tenants father became involved in the correspondence over and back between the letting agent and the tenant.
He went into detail to explain that there was no way( in his opinion) that his daughter could have brought the bed bugs into the room, and that they must have been present before she arrived.
He made a request that his daughter be reimbursed the cost of her accommodation for the 10 days, the cost for her to launder her clothes(as recommended by the pest controller) , and compensation for her trauma and suffering for the period this has been going on. 

I responded to the letting agent to say that I had no intention of offering compensation of any sort, from my point of view if the problem existed in Oct/Nov19 then it should have been reported to the letting agent so that it could have been dealt with before it became a major issue. I also highlighted that although the tenants father outlined in detail that his daughter could not possibly have brought the bed bugs into the room , in my opinion there are many ways in which the bed bugs could have been introduced to the room in the time of her tenancy, like a friend visiting or returning from a trip etc. There had been no reports of bed bugs from the previous tenants and when informed of the issue I instructed the treatment to go ahead immediately.

The tenant's father has since responded back to say he has sought legal advise from 3 separate practices and that they have told him he has a strong case against me. He states:

"The presiding advice being that landlords are legally obligated to provide habitable living conditions and there is no reasonable grounds to ascertain that the tenant  brought the bed bugs with her from her previous residence. Compensation claim calculators seem to indicate potential claims ranging from £6,700 to £97,500 depending on the severity of the bites and whether the bites result in permanent scaring."

He goes on to make a settlement offer of £3140 based on the 5 months rent she had paid to date plus the cost of her 10 days accommodation and the cost to launder her clothes.

From my point of view I feel I have acted perfectly reasonably by instructing the bed bug issued be dealt with as soon as it was brought to my attention and I fail to see what grounds the tenant or her father would have to bring a case against me.

Does anyone have any experience of a similar situation or have any advise on how I should proceed?

Thank you in advance.

Irrelevant when she reported it. When she did she was forced to use other accommodation and you should have paid for it. 

lees80

You were (are) obliged to pay for alternative accommodation during the period she couldn't use the space she was paying rent for.

Trauma and suffering - awful way to describe an event such as bed bugs. He's obviously trying to strong arm you into a settlement. 

I take it the tenant no longer wishes to live there? 

[Deleted User]

@_shel, I disagree. I don't think it is irrelevant when the tenant reported it.  The tenants has a responsibility to act in a tenant like manner which includes reporting repair issues promptly, not waiting a month before contacting the letting agent.  Who's to say the tenant didn't bring the bedbugs into the property herself?

The pest controller might have told the tenant she couldn't occupy the room for 10 days but what did the pest controller tell the OP or the letting agent after carrying out the treatment?  Did the tenant make any attempt to contact either the OP or the letting agent to arrange alternative accommodation for those 10 days or did she take it upon herself to do so.

The tenant's father might have contacted 3 different solicitors but it doesn't sound like he's actually engaged any of them and has been given generic legal advice and not advice specific to his daughter's case.  Does your landlord insurance include legal cover, if so give them a call.

Fosterdog

It is reasonable for you to cover the cost of alternative accommodation but it is not reasonable for them to expect additional compensation for her "trauma and suffering"

anselld

A good example of why not to engage with a tenant's parents.
Shelter is clear that you are not obliged to pay for alternative accommodation...
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/moving_out_during_repairs
Pest problems are only the landlord's responsibility if they are due to building defect or they were pre-existing.  However, most would do as you have done and arrange a visit not least to prevent the situation getting worse. 
The bottom line is that paying for the treatment, a rent rebate for the 10 days and possibly a laundry bill would be a decent goodwill gesture (if any goodwill remains after dealing with the unreasonable father).

elsien

Why is anyone engaging with the father? He's not the tenant.

amandacat

As soon as it was reported you dealt with the issue. I think the legalities of the issue of compensation will be complex and whether you will be ordered to pay anything. The fact it was reported some time after moving in and the previous tenants didn’t complain will work in your favour. 
If it was me I would offer to pay the overnight accommodation costs if a receipt is provided and the same with the laundering. I wouldn’t think anything else should be paid in regard to stress or inconvenience as it is difficult to quantify and I would think a court would only be looking at expenses reimbursement if they did find in her favour . 

m0bov

OP should consider paying for an agreed amount in accommodation, but also the tenant should pay for the treatment.

Hasbeen

Send the tenant the bill for the pest control treatment. As no bedbugs before moving in but now suddenly appeared?

Kyresa

I think there would be a tough time proving this one.   Who can prove the bed bugs are YOUR fault?  They can travel in on people's clothes, suitcases etc.     They only appeared after your tenant occupied the property? 

You paid for the pest control..... the accommodation is a goodwill gesture!    Anything else, let them see you in court!