No bed bug statute and pests are not named. Nebraska has an unusual provision worth understanding first: where a local minimum housing code applies, that code determines the landlord's MAXIMUM duty — not the minimum. Most states treat local codes as a floor; Nebraska treats them as a ceiling, which makes your city's code the decisive document. The main route is 14 days to remedy after written notice, then termination at 30, plus damages and injunctive relief with attorney's fees if the failure was wilful. Do not assume you can repair and deduct: that remedy is confined to running water, hot water, heat and essential services, and an infestation is unlikely to qualify.
Who pays for treatment
Landlord, capped by any local housing code
Landlord response deadline
14 days to remedy, 30 to terminate
Disclosure before lease
No
What the law actually says
No bed bug provision. Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-1401 et seq. § 76-1419 (landlord to maintain fit premises) — comply with applicable building, housing and health codes materially affecting health and safety; make all repairs necessary to keep the premises fit and habitable; maintain electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilating, air conditioning and other systems in good and safe working order; supply running water and reasonable hot water. Pests are not enumerated. TWO LIMITING CLAUSES IN THE SAME SECTION: 'If there exists a minimum housing code applicable to the premises, the landlord's maximum duty under this section shall be determined by subdivision (1)(a) of this section' — so a local code caps the duty rather than supplementing it — and 'The obligations imposed by this section are not intended to change existing tort law in the state.' § 76-1425 (non-compliance by landlord) — (1) on material non-compliance with the rental agreement or with § 76-1419 materially affecting health and safety, written notice specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach, with the agreement terminating on a date not less than thirty days after receipt if the breach is not remedied in fourteen days, and no termination if the landlord adequately remedies before the specified date; (2) the tenant may recover damages and obtain injunctive relief for any non-compliance, with reasonable attorney's fees where the non-compliance is wilful, but NO consequential damages where the non-compliance is caused by conditions or circumstances beyond the landlord's control, in which case the § 76-1427 remedies remain; (3) the damages remedy is in addition to the termination route; (4) on termination the landlord returns all prepaid rent and security under § 76-1416. Useful annotation: so long as the tenant has given the notice required by § 76-1419, the tenant may seek damages or injunctive relief under subsection (2) without also serving a termination notice. § 76-1427 IS NARROWER THAN IT LOOKS — it applies where the landlord deliberately or negligently fails to supply running water, hot water, heat or essential services, allowing the tenant to procure those services and deduct the cost, recover damages based on diminution in fair rental value, or procure substitute housing and be excused from rent, with additional recovery and attorney's fees where the failure was deliberate. A bed bug infestation is unlikely to fall within 'essential services', so treat commercial guides describing a general repair-and-deduct in Nebraska with caution. Note also § 76-1427(2): electing this route bars the tenant from proceeding under § 76-1425 for the same breach, and § 76-1427(3) denies the rights where the condition was caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a family member, or another person on the premises with their consent. Also relevant: § 76-1411 obligation of good faith; § 76-1412 unconscionability; § 76-1415 prohibited provisions in rental agreements; § 76-1421 tenant to maintain dwelling unit. The Nebraska Real Estate Commission publishes the Act; Legal Aid of Nebraska publishes tenant guidance.
Hiring someone in Nebraska? Check they are actually licensed for structural pest control before you pay a deposit. Verify a Nebraska exterminator →
What to do, in order
Photograph everything before you touch it
Live insects, shed skins, dark staining along the mattress seam. Timestamps are the evidence.
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.
Do not throw out furniture yet
Discarded items can't be inspected, and moving them spreads the infestation down the hallway.
Let the deadline above run
Escalating before it expires generally forfeits the remedy.
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.
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 Nebraska 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 Nebraska 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.