No, don’t let the bedbugs bite -- but be ready for a fight

Question: I’m considering breaking my lease because of bedbugs -- not in my unit but next door. The building owner exterminated the unit, but not the adjoining ones. I’ve read that these pests are extremely hard to eradicate and travel easily. Is the fact that my neighbor has them a legal basis for me to break my lease?

Answer: Bedbugs are very difficult to control. Unless your landlord used a pest control company well versed in dealing with them, you could indeed be facing a situation where the bugs still exist and are ready to move into your unit (they travel easily through cracks in floors and through openings created for wires and pipes).

If you were to find bedbugs in your unit, that would probably justify breaking your lease -- but you hardly want to wait for that event.

The question is: Given the situation, do you have a reasonable fear that infestation is imminent? The stronger your evidence that it is imminent, the greater your chances that a judge would uphold your lease-breaking should your landlord take you to court (or keep your deposit) to cover the rent for the balance of your lease or until the unit is rented.

To answer that question, you’ll need to learn more about how the landlord dealt with the neighbor’s problem. Also, learn how these bugs live and thrive, which methods a reputable pest control company would take to eradicate them and what steps enlightened owners take when there’s an outbreak.

The Harvard School of Public Health, at www.hsph.har vard.edu/bedbugsbugs, has the definitive word on bedbugs. Also, a commercial site, www.techletter.com, has very practical information for multi-family units in particular.

Your lease-breaking stands the best chance of surviving a challenge if you can argue that your owner’s response was inadequate when measured by industry standards and likely to result in a re-infestation and spread of the bugs.

An eviction may not follow filing

Question: In the face of mounting debt, I’ve decided to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I’m not behind in rent and I can continue to pay, but I’m worried about the effect of my bankruptcy on my lease. Can my landlord kick me out?

Answer: Your landlord cannot kick you out simply because you’ve filed for bankruptcy. Here’s what will happen after you file: The bankruptcy judge will appoint someone, called a bankruptcy trustee, to oversee your case. That person will look at your bankruptcy petition, see that you have a lease and decide whether to carry on with it or terminate it.

If you’re paying big bucks to rent a lavish penthouse, the trustee may want to end the lease, channel that extra cash toward your creditors and have you live more modestly. Most of the time, the trustee leaves the lease in place, as it rarely makes sense to force the debtor to look for another rental.

If you keep the lease, your landlord has the right to ask the judge to make you prove that you’ll be able to continue to pay rent. If you convince the judge, that’s the end of it.

Now, suppose you fail to pay the rent while your bankruptcy petition is still going through the process. The landlord can’t give you a “pay or quit” notice, let alone evict you, without the judge’s OK. The landlord would have to ask the judge to allow termination of your lease and, if needed, eviction.

Janet Portman is an attorney and managing editor at Nolo. She is the co-author of “Every Landlord’s Legal Guide” and “Every Tenant’s Legal Guide.” She can be reached at [email protected].