Who Pays for the Bed Bugs

Bed bug liability in rental housing

Bed bug laws in Arkansas
Who pays for treatment?

Little tenant protection

The hardest state in the country, and for bed bugs it is harder still. Arkansas is the only US state with no implied warranty of habitability. A 2021 Act created a short list of 'implied residential quality standards' — water, electricity, plumbing, roof, heating and air conditioning — but INFESTATION IS NOT ON THAT LIST. So unless your lease specifically promises pest control, there is likely no statutory route at all. Even for the things that are covered, the only remedy is to give written notice and, if nothing happens in 30 days, move out. No repair-and-deduct, no damages, no rent withholding — and Arkansas is the only state where failing to pay rent can be handled as a criminal matter. Do not withhold rent here. Go to the local housing code and to legal aid.

Who pays for treatment
Whatever the lease says — pests are not covered by statute
Landlord response deadline
30 days, then the right to leave
Disclosure before lease
No

What the law actually says

Arkansas Residential Landlord-Tenant Act of 2007, Ark. Code §§ 18-17-101 to 18-17-913. Arkansas is the only state in the United States without an implied warranty of habitability; the only obligation the Act historically imposed on landlords was compliance with the security deposit statutes. Act 1052 of 2021 (SB 594) added 'implied residential quality standards' at § 18-17-502, subch. 5 (landlord obligations), applying to leases entered into or renewed after 1 November 2021: an available source of hot and cold running water, potable drinking water, available electricity, sanitary sewer and plumbing conforming to applicable codes, a functioning roof and building envelope, and heating and air conditioning available at the beginning of the lease term. INFESTATION AND PEST CONTROL ARE NOT AMONG THE ENUMERATED STANDARDS, so a bed bug claim has no obvious statutory hook unless the lease itself promises pest control. § 18-17-502(d)(1) and (d)(2)(A) — the tenant is entitled to deliver written notice of non-compliance by certified mail or any other method provided by the lease, specifying the acts and omissions constituting the non-compliance; (d)(2)(B) refers to the duty as 'implied quality standards'. THE SOLE REMEDY: if the landlord does not correct within 30 calendar days, the tenant may terminate the lease without penalty and receive a refund of the security deposit. There is no repair-and-deduct, no rent withholding, no damages action and no anti-retaliation provision. A landlord must also comply with any stricter housing standards of a local government with jurisdiction, which makes the municipal code the more promising route. CRIMINAL EVICTION: Arkansas is the only state that treats failure to pay rent and vacate as a criminal matter; HB 1798 of 2021 would have ended this and died in committee on 5 April 2021. Withholding rent in Arkansas is therefore uniquely dangerous. Deposits are capped at two months' rent with a 60-day accounting; the non-payment notice period is 3 days; small claims are capped at $5,000 under § 18-60-304(5). CONFLICT TO RESOLVE: an Arkansas housing advocacy organization states Act 1052 contains a non-waiver clause, while a commercial guide states the standards can be waived by written agreement. These cannot both be right and it materially changes the advice — read § 18-17-502 directly. Scholarly treatment: Wesley N. Manus, 'Property Law — Landlord-Tenant Law — The Iron Triangle of Residential Leases: Landlords, Tenants, and Economic Policy in America's Last State without Implied Warranty of Habitability', 41 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 117 (Fall 2018), discussing Alexander Apartments v. City of Little Rock. Background: the Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry on landlord-tenant laws, and the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement's housing and health work.

Hiring someone in Arkansas? Check they are actually licensed for structural pest control before you pay a deposit. Verify a Arkansas exterminator →

What to do, in order

  1. Photograph everything before you touch it

    Live insects, shed skins, dark staining along the mattress seam. Timestamps are the evidence.

  2. Notify the landlord in writing

    Email or certified letter, never a phone call alone. Written notice is what starts the clock in every state that has one.

  3. Do not throw out furniture yet

    Discarded items can't be inspected, and moving them spreads the infestation down the hallway.

  4. Let the deadline above run

    Escalating before it expires generally forfeits the remedy.

  5. Escalate to the housing agency, then to court

    An independent inspection report is worth more than your own photographs. Rent withholding rules vary sharply — check the section above before you try it.

Read it yourself

Everything above was written by reading the sections named in the citation, not by summarizing another summary. You should not take our word for it — open the statute and check. Look up the section numbers quoted above.

Arkansas General Assembly — Arkansas Code →

The state's own legislature or code site. Search it for the section numbers quoted above — they are the whole basis for this page.

Last checked against the Arkansas code: . Statutes change every legislative session — if you are reading this long after that date, open the cited sections yourself before relying on them.

Not legal advice. This is a plain-language reference to publicly available statutes, verified against the Arkansas code. Liability turns on your lease, your local ordinance and your specific facts. Talk to a tenant attorney or legal aid before withholding rent or filing anything.

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