Landlord Adding Bedbug Addendum - Can They Require These Things
My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Pennsylvania
Got a bedbug addendum from our landlord for lease renewal. It adds to the lease that we must agree to:
* Not bring second hand furniture into the property (what? I can understand making you check it, but I won't be able to buy a bookcase on craigslist?!)
* Cover mattress and boxsprings with bedbug resistant zippered coverings (can't afford this, never had a problem with bedbugs and from what I read these don't work to prevent)
* arrange furniture to minimize bed bug hiding places (such as keeping furniture several inches away from the wall) (Are you actually telling me how to arrange furniture in my own apartment?)
There are other terms but we have no problem with them. I just seriously question the legality of the above stuff they are requiring. Is it?
Re: Landlord Adding Bedbug Addendum - Can They Require These Things
It's legal to ask for those terms.
It's legal to agree to those terms.
And once you sign a lease with those terms you are bound by them.
There isn't anything in the PA landlord tenant act that prohibits those terms:
http://www.thelpa.com/PA_landlord_tenant_act.pdf
Your option is to negotiate them away (perhaps by offering a higher security/damage deposit) or decline to renew and find another place to live.
Re: Landlord Adding Bedbug Addendum - Can They Require These Things
Bedbugs have become such big issues and often so difficult to eradicate (especially in apartment/complex living situations) that many landlords are adding such clauses to their leases.
These are perfectly legal clauses. As has been pointed out, if you not agree with these, you do not have to renew the lease and you can begin to look for another place to rent.
Gail