What are tenant's rights if a rented room has bedbugs?

[leporello]

Hi, at end of tether here as can't get hold of anyone on any advice line this afternoon. DD moved into new shared rental on Tuesday night, discovered immediately that the room was infested with bedbugs. She called a pest control company for a quote, they confirmed the infestation and informed lettings agency.

Agency want to use a cheaper company but have informed dd today that nobody is available even to provide a quote for over a week. What are dd's legal rights in this situation? She can't use her room and has nowhere to sleep. She has to stay in the city for work but is new there and doesn't know anyone else she can stay with.

She is absolutely freaked out, deeply unimpressed with the agency and wants out tbh. Might even quit the new job. What can she do to have this dealt with quickly?

Not a lawyer - but would suggest (1) putting in writing to letting agent that she cannot reasonably be expected to sleep in infested accommodation, so will need to stay elsewhere - i.e. a hotel, (2) ask them to fund this, or provide refund for the nights she can't use the accommodation she's booked.

There's an implied term in contracts that the goods/services have to be fit for purpose, and the goods and service she's been provided with are not - so she may well be able to terminate the contract with the landlord on those grounds, but it may well be a hassle to get money back that she's already paid. (This should mean that she wouldn't be liable to pay any sums due going forward though.) But this should be checked with someone legally qualified!

Legal bits aside, could she not contact those people she knows at her new workplace and ask for suggestions for local accommodation?

Do not let her return home because your home will be infested very quickly.
The best thing is to put her clothes in the freezer if she can, including shoes, and move to a hotel until the agent deals with it. Is she sure it's bed bugs?

Oh god, I can't help with the legal side of things but if she needs to come home out all her clothes in the tumble straight away, the heat kills the bugs and eggs.

It is outrageous that the letting agent is wanting her to wait.

Maybe she can catch some bugs in a pot and drop them on the letting agents desk, that should spur them into action!

Agency is sending exterminators round on Monday - they suddenly became available when housemates suggested dissolving the contract . At this point, even if they deal with the bugs successfully, they don't want to live there any more. I think they have a strong case to end the tenancy and get their money back but we're still working on it.

Dd doesn't want to come home (too far and she has work) and has been sleeping on the sofa - pest controllers thought the bugs were only upstairs - but it's not ideal to say the least.

No they won't have a strong case to end the tenancy. Bed bugs are not uncommon in student accommodation sadly.

They are entitled to ask for a proper intervention to get rid of them (bombs alone might not be enough), to have their mattresses replaced for new ones and the cost of washing absolutely all their clothing paid for.

That's about all they can go for. They can try a reduction in rent for the month but no guarantee.

Bedbugs are the absolute worst - they will be anywhere and everywhere and anything that’s been inside that flat needs to be treated properly. I don’t know the legal side, but to avoid bringing them with her she needs to sort the clothes and anything else she has - they can hide anywhere!

They won't be contained just in the bedroom. I would end the tenancy if I was her

This happened to my uni kid. One room was really bad, two only had a few. They didn't move further. It took two loads of extermination, the first one was not done professionally. They got ride of them in a couple of weeks. Good luck trying to get the landlord to agree to end the tenancy or the court to agree. Landlords have a right to remedy to the problem as long as they do it properly.

You don't need the landlords permission to end the tenancy. It's two months notice given by the tenant in writing and it ends on that date.
If she wants to end the tenancy now she can, but I agree, she needs to let the agents/landlord deal with it.

It depends on the tenancy they signed. If she signed a 12 month contract then you can’t just give 2 months notice at any point during the contract. You give the 2 months notice 20 months in to prevent the fixed tenancy from becoming a rolling contract

Put dirty clothes that are infested with bugs in the tumble drier before washing them?

The 2 months notice isn't applicable in Wales.

Exterminators are in today and will be back in 2 weeks to re-do. At this point the landlord can claim they have fulfilled their part of the bargain - we have been to CAB and it looks like ending the tenancy would be very difficult, they may end up paying 12 months rent regardless.

I'm not optimistic that the bedbugs will be gone for good, and the agency have proven themselves slippery to deal with in other ways so nobody has confidence in them.

Your daughter needs to start treating everything and getting it all out of that house. They are so, so hard to get rid of. We brought ‘two’ back from holiday (well we found two anyway) and it took months of drying and bagging and taping and all sorts to clear them up.

You need to update your knowledge as you are wrong. In England the RRA disposed of fixed terms. Any tenancy agreement has reverted to 2 months notice irrespective of what the agreement contained. There are no fixed terms. All tenancies are now Assured Periodic Tenancies.

Edited to add the Op has confirmed daughter is in Wales and I am unfamiliar with the law there. The above applies only to England.

Yes unwashed, but domestic tumble driers are not normally hot enough to kill them.

Washing everything at 50 or above, 60 is even better, on a very long wash so the bugs are in the 50 degrees + for at least an hour then tumble drying on a hot heat in an industrial dryer for an hour will help and kill them. Things that can't be washed should be put in the deep freeze for a couple of weeks.

Also strip off outside the house, double bag the clothes and then have a shower.

I binned my 2 cases as I couldn't be sure they weren't infested.

The alternative is to put your clothes double bagged, in 'quarantine' for 18 months, so in the garage. I have some in there.

I travel in Asia for months every winter and have avoided bb only once. Hence my precautions.