My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California
We moved into a new rental a week ago, and upon move in, noticed tons of dead ants strewn across the kitchen floor, baseboards, and in the downstairs bathroom. Then we started noticing live ants in different locations in the house. Having lived in a rental before this one that had had an ant infestation at one point, it was clear to us that someone had sprayed outside prior to us moving in, and that the affected ants had come inside the new rental to die. We documented what we saw by taking pictures of the ants and called and left a voicemail message for the property manager, who incidentally, took some time to get back to us. It was clear that there had been a pre-exisiting ant issue that had not been disclosed to us, and when we questioned the property management company about this, they denied it and lied to us.
There was also something in their clause stating that it is the tenants' responsibility to take care of pest issue, but since we had just moved in, they agreed to pay for a "one time" spraying of the exterior of the rental. They never once apologized for the inconvenience, and we felt that not only did we have a right to know the truth about the pre-exisiting infestation, but we also had the right to move into a rental that was in acceptable condition (and by acceptable, we mean a clean, pest-free house). We also felt that we should be eligible for some kind of security deposit refund, since we had to spend time cleaning the rental and it slowed down our moving progress.
I'm wondering what our rights are in this situation, and whether we should articulate the aforementioned points in an email to the owner of the property management company instead of the property manager. Needless to say, we don't have the most favorable opinion of this company at this point, and even though we don't exactly want to be in contact with them, we do feel like we were not treated well or fairly in this situation, and it has been bothering us quote a bit.
Thank you in advance.


