I'm wondering how people handle these imperious tenants who tell you they Will Not Stand for a bug in their apartment.

Yet you as the landlord have NO control over how sloppy they are, how sloppy the other tenants are, or how much discarded food they throw about.

So you have no right to tell them how to live..... but are somehow still on the hook if they bring in pests with their own living habits.

Well anyway the downstairs tenant who has otherwise been decent and clean, spotted 2 (omg, TWO) roaches in her apartment last night, and went ballistic. She insisted these came from the 'dirty, filthy' tenants upstairs and demanded I hire an exterminator immediately.

Now the building was completely renovated when we started and not a bug anywhere, so we stated clearly in the leases then that if tenants bring in bugs they will have to split the fee for an exterminator. So I reminded her of this. Also telling her we haven't raised rents in 3 years.

I was rewarded with pages of cursing and how she spent "50 dollars" on bug spray (even though had already given her a gallon of Professional strength bug spray earlier, and she's in a 1 BR apartment).

Meanwhile the people upstairs who she accuses of being filthy, refuse to let me enter to spray anyway.

I'm at my wits end.

Literally, these are two bugs. I have seen a roach or two in my own house over the years. Sometimes they crawl out of the drains.

To me this is the worst part of owning multis.

My advice, don't ask, but TELL the upstairs tenant in writing via notice what day you'll be doing pest extermination.

If they don't comply, serve them with lease violation notice.

If nothing else, need to get some bait out in both units.

In the meantime, I'd offer happy clause to downstairs unit.

2 that you see may be 200 in the walls you don't see.

Based on this and previous posts of yours: the problem is the upstairs tenant and your inability to deal with them correctly.

>> In the meantime, I'd offer happy clause to downstairs unit.>>

After doing this for 6 years, I'm at this point.

I don't mince words anymore. I cut through their arguments and tell them why they make no sense. And if they threaten to leave then fine, go ahead. Even though it means getting a tidal wave of texts back. I can't help it.

I'll take the hit, have to clean up their grime and damage and find someone else. Its better than being held hostage.

It would be nice to be a magicican as a landlord, and just walk in and wave a wand, make everything peachy-new and clean after each tenants wake of garbage and damage. They certainly expect it.

>> Based on this and previous posts of yours: the problem is the upstairs tenant and your inability to deal with them correctly.>>

My "inability to deal with them correctly" stems from their paying their rent ontime and complete for the entire time they've been there, and causing no other trouble.

Its been a why rock the boat situation, since we all know how difficult it is when they don't pay. Not ideal, but it never is.

Have any of the other apartments seen anything? If not, makes you wonder how they could be coming from the "filthy tenant upstairs".

I only have SFH, so our answer is different...we tell them that the unit is pest-free (which it is or we would not rent it), and then tell them if they see anything in the first week then they must catch it (to prove it's there) and we will treat for it. After the first week, any new issue must be due to their living situation and they are responsible. We even set out bedbug traps 3-4 days before listing, then on a walkthrough we have the tenant look at the traps and sign stating there were no bedbugs in the traps when they moved in...future bedbug issues are their responsibility.

We also have a clause about "nuisance" pests to avoid people calling us about ants, mice, squirrels, and other varmints outside the house that we cannot control. We make them initial next to this clause after we read it to them.

We had it in a multi. Called a pro. Took several treatments. It was no not letting us in. We gave the same time frame the exterminator gave us. Of course, we got confirmation what it was before treatment. WE paid. We know where they were concentrated, but I can't prove 100% that is where they started. If you only treat one, they will migrate to the next. I would rather treat it before it gets too out of control. They were in the outlets and behind the fridge in one unit. The other units only saw a total of 4 combined, but the one unit had at least 10 that were seen on inspection.

Duplexer, not to insult you but simple length of time in this business doesn't mean one is doing it right. We started landlording in late 2003 and by 2010, I was at my wit's end. One bad tenant after another, one bad situation after another and we really didn't know how to deal with it...much like you with some of your reported situations.

Then we attended Jeffrey's Convention and listened to him teach. And attended his Boot Camp and learned from him.

Our lives turned around and we were able to TAKE CONTROL of our landlording lives and our entire business. We came here and asked for advice and LISTENED to the good stuff and ADAPTED the way we did things, yes, but the Convention and Boot Camp were the keys.

In Virginia, the landlord is responsible for a multi.

It sounds to me like you better do an inspection of the upper unit to judge for yourself if they are causing the problem.

" I can not think of the name but it's normal if you have trees to have a few inside."

Are you going to tell me to bite you and call me a scolder if I answer your question?

Because I don't have that many units, they are all close to my home, and only a handful of turnovers a year, I still do everything personally. No lock box, no "go to a web site". I am in the property, they walk up to the door and I open it. I look at them, they look at me. They walk around. I can answer questions.

...What amazes me is that these scammers never seem to get busted by the authorities. Yet, they continue to target us landlord ...

I just googled - how many bugs does a typical house have.

Ray, what was your answer? You left us hanging.

When I searched, this popped up

no such thing as "just two roaches". look for obvious sources like recent alterations to garbage areas. roaches like to hunker down and disturbances to their digs get's them riles up. i've had good success with pro grade pest control supplies from DoMyOwn.com. i had a roach issue once and the bait gel they had solved it. as far as tenants barring entry? ohhh helllll no! that happens ONE TIME and they get the door. when i need to enter it's not for fun or sport and their convenience means NOTHING to me. the law imposes MANY clear requirements on landlords...if they don't like them tell 'em to call their local political hack and lobby for relief. until then i go in when i need to.