Landlords and co-op boards — now required to disclose their buildings’ one-year bedbug history to prospective residents — plan to make the same demand of would-be tenants, sources told The NY Post.
“It evens the playing field by making sure the landlord isn’t conversely bringing bedbugs into the building” by renting to an infested tenant, said landlord attorney Jeff Turkel.
He has already advised six Manhattan landlords to ask apartment hunters on their rental applications whether they’ve had a bedbug problem at their current residence.
If the prospective tenant answers yes, Turkel said the landlord could legally reject the application.
He also predicted that fine print about bedbugs will start appearing in leases.
The tactic has the support of the Rent Stabilization Association, a landlord advocacy group.
But Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, the West Side Democrat who sponsored the Bedbug Disclosure Act, which became law in August, called such a move “discriminatory.”
The city’s 311 line has fielded 28,542 inquiries about bedbugs this year.
{NY Post/Matzav.com}
