Who Pays for the Bed Bugs

Bed bug liability in rental housing

Bed bug laws in Georgia
Who pays for treatment?

Little tenant protection

The weakest state covered so far, and most guides describe it wrongly. Georgia has no implied warranty of habitability — it has a narrower statutory duty to repair, and Georgia courts have held that the duty to repair does not include a duty of maintenance. Whether exterminating bed bugs counts as a 'repair' at all is genuinely unsettled. There is no repair-and-deduct, rent withholding needs court involvement, and in a negligence claim a tenant who knew about the bugs can have that knowledge used to defeat their own case.

Who pays for treatment
Unsettled — depends on 'repair'
Landlord response deadline
Reasonable time — none fixed
Disclosure before lease
No

What the law actually says

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-13 (landlord's duty as to repairs) imposes contractual but not tort liability; § 44-7-14 governs tort liability once the tenant is in possession. The duty to repair cannot be waived: § 44-7-2(b). Georgia courts hold the duty to repair does not include a duty of maintenance, leaving bed bug remediation dependent on how a court reads 'repair'. An out-of-possession landlord still owes ordinary care in common areas. Premises liability: the tenant must show the landlord knew of the condition, and the tenant's equal or superior knowledge generally defeats the claim — though repeated notice to a landlord who refuses to act can overcome it. Recovery is generally limited to rent abatement or compensatory damages, with punitive damages in extreme cases. No repair-and-deduct. Best secondary source in the country on this: 'Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bill: Landlord Liability for Bed Bug Infestations', 34 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 479 (2018).

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

Georgia General Assembly — 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 Georgia 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 Georgia 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.

Other states

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