State Specific Question About: ARIZONA (AZ)

Hi everyone,

I rent out a guest-house-turned-cottage in the back of my larger house. It has its own backyard, driveway and mailbox.

Anyway, wWhen my last tenant left---without proper notice, and without paying me rent or the $300 of late fees owed me, and without cleaning up after herself---she told me a dog she'd brought onto the premises (without my permission, not allowed n the lease) got ticks from my backyard. I've determined they're brown dog ticks, and the exterminators said they were no big deal, and I had a new renter who signed a lease and was very gung-ho about solving the tick problem and living there for a long time.

But after this woman last came to the house and found "hundreds" of dead ticks after the last (second) pest-control spray (she showed the ticks to me on pieces of tape), she became absolutely irate, called me a bad person, and had me return her money and nullify the lease because the house is "uninhabitable."

The exterminators (and others) have told me the ticks are no big deal, but this woman (and another woman before her who actually didn't know about the ticks until it was time to move in---which was also when I found out) have told me they *are* a big deal.

I live in Tucson, which is very dry, so I've never heard of ticks here, and I don't know what to do. Do I need to leave the place vacant till I'm certain there are no more ticks---and actually, how can I *ever* be absolutely sure they're gone? I presume I should now never have anyone with animals live there? I presume that if/when I do rent this place out again, I need to mention the tick problem (or former tick problem) in the lease, and have the tenant agree not to hold me responsible if they're ever to contraction illness from a tick that may have been on my property?

What should I do?! I'm a very inexperienced landlord.

Step 1: calm down.

Step 2: hire a professional exterminator who warranties their work (i.e. free re-treatments) for 90 days. Treat the premises and retain copies of paperwork.

Step 3: get a new tenant and in the lease you state that you have a "30 day bug free guarantee", and anything after that is treated on their dime.

Insect born diseases are rare, but one should take reasonable precautions. Hiring a professional exterminator is a reasonable precaution. It shows a judge in any potential case you were doing your due diligence as a land lord. Carrying adequate liability insurance is also a reasonable precaution in case someone sues you. I carry $1.6 million. This helps you sleep well at night!

Bugs are a fact of life. I was in my back yard yesterday and got bit by a mosquito. I did not sue my bank for potential malaria exposure. Tenants who have unreasonable expectations are welcome to buy out the remainder of their lease, or they can stay put and pay for their own bug treatments after the first 30 days. Their choice.

Hi Anna!

First. separate the problems. It's easy to get all wrapped up in the emotional part, especially when called names, but you must keep a clear head to survive this biz.

Problem #1: old res owes money. Send the proper moveout bill as required by your state. Pursue that person if you feel they are collectible.

Problem #2: ticks in the yard. You dealt with it prfessionally. DEAD ticks are a good sign! You did the right thing. Feel good about that. Hang on to that receipt in cast this former res causes more trouble.

I don't know AZ law but normally we do not have to disclose bugs.

Small tip: good chance the neighbors have them too, so they might be back soon! Ask around.

Ticks need moisture so it's seems odd to have them in a dry climate. Sprinkler system??

Problem #3: irate resident. I will suggest to you that this person has other issues causing her to want out of the lease. The ticks were just an excuse for her to make noise. And some people are just plain wack jobs - bi-polar, schizophrenic, on strong medications, drunk, high, husband just walked out on her...

Personally, I don't want someone in my house that does not want to be there. They will make your life miserable, even to the point of lawsuits, and leave soon anyway.

Just understand it was not a good match, it happens, normal LLing, people are people, and move on to another resident.

You wrote she "had me return her money and nullify the lease because the house is "uninhabitable."

She cannot MAKE you return her money or MAKE you nullify the lease. You did that yourself.

You gave up control which is where a LL starts to lose money.

Did she move in? I'm assuming she moved out.

In this case, I'm glad she is gone

The home was NOT uninhabitable. The YARD had some bugs. ALL yards have bugs. You had it professionally treated and took care of YOUR responsibility. Most states have a law allowing the LL "reasonable time" to make repairs.

My lease is clear:

bugs are not a reason to leave.

Res will allow time for repairs.

If they want out of the lease, they can pay the Early Release Fee which is approx the same as 2 months of rent.

There choice to pay to leave or stay.

From here just re-rent quickly and be glad she is gone.

Go to dinner and remind yourself there are ups and downs in this biz, you just went thru a down, but are still standing!

BRAD

haha! SID and I were typing at the same time!

I got bit by a mosquito during lunch in a restaurant today! I should demand my money back and sue! (not really!)

We live in hot and humid part of the country, personal residence is literally in the woods, rentals in small town near by...we have TONS of ticks every year.

I never heard if tick INFESTATION. Googled it. Seems that it happens when people don't take care of their animals. So your non paying tenant brought not permitted dog into the house, the dog was infested and she did nothing about it...and left owing money. Learn from this and try to prevent all of it from happening in the future. One treatment is enough. Ticks are NOT a big deal, unless a woman wanted to get out for other reasons.

I allow pets because they will bring them in anyway, but this way I get to charge them extra. There is pet deposit that will go to treat any infestation if and when it happens.

As for diseases - it is very unclear..strangely enough tick carried diseases are mostly found in the North East while ticks mostly found in the South East, go figure...

In our household every living thing gets tick check up every evening. 2 dogs walking around the yard.Never found more than 1, let alone infestation.

Thanks so much for your advice, both of you. Yes, I know I'm a *total* doormat... definitely not cut out to be a landlord... I hate it, always lose money, always make the wrong decisions, always feel yucky about my tenants---which really sucks when they live right behind/next to me! (With this latest almost-renter woman, the experience of her confronting me [and anticipating further, worse such experiences] was just so traumatic that yes, I willingly gave her her money back even though I believed it was unfair. With the former tenant who owed $300... no, I'll *never* let that happen again!!!---but she did trick me into it, and now she's left town to travel in a mobile home, I have no idea where... ugh. I read a tip on here about getting four people to be contacts in case someone tries to do that to me in future.)

I know I've had awful experiences with renters because I'm a terrible landlord (in that I have no spine!---not in that I don't take care of my tenants or their residence... I obviously "take care" of them a little too "well"). Sigh.

But... the almost-new-renter said she found "hundreds" of dead ticks, as well as two remaining live ones... apparently they were (are) living inside the walls. This *does* seem like a pretty bad infestation, right? The exterminators said it would be fine for people (and animals) to live there by now, but there are supposed to be two more treatments, a month apart (July 10 and Aug. 10). And if there are indeed live ticks around, likely inside the walls... well, I can't imagine many people would be likely to *want* to live there because it sounds so gross/creepy.

I'll look into getting the liability insurance (I didn't even know what that was!---thank you!!!). But even if I do that, does anyone have an opinion on how long should I wait to go ahead and re-advertise the place? Like I said, the exterminators said now would be fine... but I'm hesitant for the above reasons.

What defines "uninhabitable," anyway?

Thanks again for your replies. I feel much better, at least about not being a "bad person," after hearing you. ***What a great forum and resource... wish I'd found it long ago!!!***

Anna

Just a note to say sorry for the ill-timed posting (thanks to SharonG as well!) and the redundancy. I see a lot of the questions in my last post have been answered.

Anna, ticks don't live in the walls, their life cycle is 2 years, they live in tall grass, shrubs and trees. They HAVE to have a host to procreate, be it a human, dog, cat, mouse deer,or anything else warmblooded, therefore there is no way they will inhabit inside the walls. I don't see any reason for 3 months treatment - this is not a honest exterminator.

We have tons of ticks here in the NE. They don't jump, they crawl, and they need moisture, such as heavy weeds, leaf litter etc. They attach themselves to animals for a ride and dinner by just crawling up the weeds and getting caught on a passing animal. They don't move much in the cold weather or the real hot weather. I can't imagine they are living in the walls. Maybe outside is infested (not unusual here) but not inside.

SharonG, I did do some basic research on brown dog ticks...and I have an entomologist friend I've been waiting to hear from in case she can best guess how the heck they got in my yard...

Here's a good link that describes the *basics* about these ticks: www.orkin.com/other/ticks/brown-dog-ticks/.

It does specifically say: "The brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineuls) is unique in its ability to complete the entire life cycle indoors.

The brown dog tick is the species that is most often found in homes." And you're right... it doesn't say anything about them living in walls (it says around baseboards, etc., which is where the would-be-renter woman was smartly looking for (and finding) them...

I just imagined they were in the walls because the place is totally vacant... all cleaned out, vacuumed, etc... and where else would they hide? There are tile floors, no furniture... it's just bizarre!!! :( There hasn't been anyone in the house for them to feed on since May 31...

And I have *no idea* how the former tenant (the one who owed the $300 and took off) could've lived in that house with all those ticks and not been bitten or just not told me... so weird... She didn't even have the dog there very often (that I know about, of course!).

The above link also says adults can live 200 days without a host... so (at least) a three-month treatment does seem wise here, I think, no? As well as probably regular yard treatments now that, yes, the neighbors probably have them, too.

I understand what you guys mean about this actually being at least largely the renter's responsibility to take care of... but that still sucks for me, since this must be extremely uncommon in my area... I can't imagine why someone would *want* to rent from me knowing that, of all the houses in Tucson, it has to be watched for ticks. :( If I were a renter, I'd probably cross a possibly tick-infested cottage off the list.

Asking orkin about ticks is like asking dog if he is hungry. The entomologist friend and sources that don't make money off your fears would do much better than that.

I do believe the problem is not as big as you feelings about it.

Yes, I agree that the problem should be fixable. So do my exterminators. And yes, it's comforting to think they couldn't survive here for 200 days. It's 110 degrees here!!! ;) (But the monsoons are coming... lots of moisture.)

Anna,

Don't beat yourself up over renters. This is how we learn.

If this means anything in your tick research...

different people attract ticks differently.

Real life example: on a Boy Scout hike thru thick damp woods, the lead boy picked up 11 ticks before lunch. The rest of us each had one, maybe two. We figured the lead boy had more because he was the first to brush up against anything on the trail.

We pulled them off (properly) and gave the lead boy a break by putting him at the rear of our group. At supper, each of us had one or two ticks, but that one boy had another 9!

His new name was TICK MAGNET.

Anna -

I think we have all had our share of learning experiences. It sounds like you do not screen people properly and I have learned lessons by not doing that as well. Do some research about how to screen tenants or search this forum for what other LLs do. It will save you time and headaches.