Bed Bug Notice to Landlord — Demand Professional Extermination (Free Template + State Tiers)

[Your Full Name]
[Address — Unit #]
[City, State ZIP]
[Phone] [Email]

[Date]

[Landlord / Property Manager Legal Name]
[Address]

cc: [Property management company, on-site manager]

Sent via certified mail, return receipt requested
(Copy also delivered by email / hand to on-site manager)

Re: Notice of Bed Bug Infestation and Demand for Professional Extermination — [Unit Address]

To [Landlord / Property Manager]:

I am the tenant at [Unit Address] under a lease dated [Date]. This letter is formal written notice that my unit has a bed bug infestation, and a demand that you arrange and pay for professional extermination promptly.

Infestation details:
  • Date I first noticed bed bugs: [Date]
  • What I observed: [live insects / bites on skin / blood spots or dark fecal staining on the mattress, box spring, or sheets / shed skins / eggs]
  • Where: [bedroom — mattress / box spring / headboard / baseboards / couch / adjacent rooms]
  • Confirmation, if any: [name of pest-control operator who confirmed, date / photos attached / none yet]
  • Prior notice I gave you: [oral notice to (name) on (date) / none — this is my first notice]

I did not introduce these pests and I have not failed to maintain the unit. [If applicable: Other units in this building have reported bed bugs — see (basis).]

Legal basis:

[Find the tier that matches your state below — strike the others. State-specific citations are in the "State notes" section of this page.]

  [TIER A — State statute imposes an affirmative landlord duty to treat / keep the unit free of pests]
  In my state, eliminating a bed bug infestation is the landlord's statutory responsibility. [Florida: Under Fla. Stat. § 83.51(2)(a)1, the landlord must provide "the extermination of rats, mice, roaches, ants, wood-destroying organisms, and bedbugs" — bed bugs are named expressly. / Maine: Under 14 M.R.S. § 6021-A, upon my notice you must conduct an inspection within 5 days and take reasonable measures to identify and treat the infestation as determined by a pest control agent; you may not rent a unit you know or suspect is infested. / California: Under Cal. Civ. Code § 1954.602 a landlord may not rent a unit known to have a current bed bug infestation, and under Cal. Civ. Code § 1941.1(a) the dwelling must be kept "clean, sanitary, and free from all accumulations of debris, filth, rubbish, garbage, rodents, and vermin," or it is untenantable under § 1941. / New York City: Under N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 27-2017.1, the owner must "take reasonable measures to keep the premises free from pests" — which includes bed bugs — and a pest infestation is a hazardous violation of the Housing Maintenance Code.] Curing this infestation is your obligation, not mine.

  [TIER B — Bed-bug statute imposes disclosure / no-knowingly-renting duties; extermination is enforced through the general habitability statute]
  [Arizona: Under Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1319 you were required to provide bed bug educational materials and are prohibited from renting a unit you knew was infested. Because § 33-1319(E) channels remedies through the rest of the Act, I also invoke Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 33-1324(A)(2), which requires you to "make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition." A bed bug infestation sufficient to materially affect health and safety is not a fit and habitable condition.] Eliminating the infestation is therefore your obligation.

  [TIER C — No bed-bug-specific statute; the implied warranty of habitability applies]
  Every residential lease in my state carries an implied warranty of habitability — the landlord's promise that the unit is fit for human habitation and free of conditions dangerous or detrimental to health and safety. [Texas: Under Tex. Prop. Code § 92.052(a), you must make a diligent effort to repair a condition that "materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant" once I give notice and am current on rent.] A bed bug infestation — which causes bites, allergic reactions, lost sleep, and spreads through walls, outlets, and shared structures — is exactly such a condition. Curing it is your responsibility.

Demand:

Within [7] days of receipt of this letter (or sooner if my state's statute sets a shorter deadline — see State notes), please:
  1. Arrange and pay for a licensed pest control operator to inspect my unit [and the adjacent units, where the statute requires it];
  2. Provide professional treatment using a recognized protocol (chemical, heat, or integrated pest management) until the infestation is eliminated, including any required follow-up treatments;
  3. Confirm in writing the date(s) of inspection and treatment and the operator's findings.

I will cooperate fully with the treatment, including granting reasonable access for inspection and follow-up and preparing my unit as the operator directs.

If you do not act within the deadline, I will pursue:
  • A complaint to my [local code-enforcement / housing / health department], which can cite and fine you for the violation;
  • The tenant remedies my state allows — which may include [repair-and-deduct, rent withholding/escrow, lease termination, or a rent abatement for the period the unit was uninhabitable] (see State notes for what applies where I live);
  • Recovery of my out-of-pocket losses caused by the infestation [discarded mattress/furniture, my own emergency treatment cost, medical/laundry costs], where my state permits it.

Any attempt to raise my rent, cut services, refuse to renew, or evict me because I sent this notice is unlawful retaliation, which my state prohibits and presumes when it follows a good-faith habitability complaint.

Please direct all correspondence about this matter to me in writing at the address above.

Sincerely,

[Your Signature]
[Your Printed Name]

Enclosures: [dated photos of the bed bugs / bites / staining; pest-control operator's report if any; copy of the lease; copy of any prior written notice; receipts for items you had to discard or treat]