Who Pays for the Bed Bugs

Bed bug liability in rental housing

Bed bug laws in District of Columbia
Who pays for treatment?

Bed bug statute

DC passed a dedicated Bedbug Control Act in 2022, and it is one of the most complete in the country — pre-lease disclosure of any infestation in the last 120 days, a licensed pest professional within 10 calendar days of your report, and 12 months of monitoring after the unit is declared clear. It also does something no other jurisdiction here does: it funds a remediation assistance program for property owners, which removes the cost excuse for not treating. Note two things though. The Act lets the housing provider charge you in limited circumstances, and DC's older 1955-era housing code puts single-unit infestations on the OCCUPANT unless the landlord failed to keep the building insect-proof. Cite the 2022 Act, not the old regulation.

Who pays for treatment
Housing provider, with limited chargeback
Landlord response deadline
10 calendar days to engage a professional
Disclosure before lease
Yes — any infestation in the last 120 days

What the law actually says

Bedbug Control Act of 2022, D.C. Law 24-238, codified at D.C. Code § 8-2431 et seq. The Act requires a housing provider to notify a tenant of any bedbug infestation within the last 120 days before the tenant signs a lease; to obtain the services of a pest control professional within 10 calendar days of notification from a tenant that bedbugs may be present; and to provide bedbug monitoring services for 12 months after a pest control professional determines no evidence of bedbugs can be found in the unit. Tenant duties: grant the housing provider and pest control professional access at a reasonable time noticed in advance, and cooperate with the pest control professional's recommendations. Under subsection (c)(1), within 5 days after finding or reasonably suspecting an infestation in the unit or a common area, the tenant should notify the housing provider. The Act allows housing providers to charge the cost of inspection and remediation to the tenant in limited circumstances, requires pest control professionals to report data to the Department of Buildings annually, and establishes a Bedbug Remediation Assistance Program at section 6 — the Department must supply program information and an application form with its written notice, and proof of application tolls further Department action until a decision is made. A housing provider's violation is a Class 4 infraction subject to a fine under 16 DCMR § 3201.1(d). OLDER OVERLAY, READ WITH CARE: 14 DCMR § 805 (extermination), which descends from the 1955 Housing Regulations at 5G DCRR § 2607, allocates responsibility very differently — 805.1 puts single-family dwellings on the occupant; 805.2 makes the occupant of a unit in a two-family or multiple dwelling responsible where theirs is the ONLY unit infested; 805.3 shifts it to the owner where the infestation results from the owner's failure to maintain the building in a rodent-proof or reasonably insect-proof condition; 805.4 puts common space on the owner; and 805.5 puts extermination on the owner whenever two or more habitations are infested. That regime was widely criticised as ambiguous before 2022 — for bed bugs specifically, the Act now governs. Cross-check: DC's 12-month post-clearance monitoring duty matches the provision reported for Delaware SB 240, which supports treating that Delaware lead as real, though it still needs confirming against the enacted text.

Hiring someone in District of Columbia? Check they are actually licensed for structural pest control before you pay a deposit. Verify a District of Columbia 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.

D.C. Law Library — official 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 District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia 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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