Bedbug, bedbug, whatcha gonna do?
July 23, 2012 3:08 PM Subscribe
NYC filter: How does the bedbug disclosure law end up playing out when one is looking for a new apartment?
Since 2010, NYC landlords have been required to disclose a year's worth of their building's bedbug infestation history to prospective tenants, via the ever-so-elegantly named Notice to Tenant Disclosure of Bedbug Infestation History form (PDF).
My boyfriend and I are about to start looking for a new apartment in Brooklyn, and we want to make sure that we're not moving into a place that has had a recent infestation. Have you had any experience with the above form? Were brokers and landlords ready and willing to provide you with a completed copy of it? If so, at what point in the process did they do so (e.g, when you viewed the apartment, when you put a deposit down, or when you signed a lease)? If the form wasn't immediately available, were you able to successfully request a copy, or did you encounter resistance?
Since 2010, NYC landlords have been required to disclose a year's worth of their building's bedbug infestation history to prospective tenants, via the ever-so-elegantly named Notice to Tenant Disclosure of Bedbug Infestation History form (PDF).
My boyfriend and I are about to start looking for a new apartment in Brooklyn, and we want to make sure that we're not moving into a place that has had a recent infestation. Have you had any experience with the above form? Were brokers and landlords ready and willing to provide you with a completed copy of it? If so, at what point in the process did they do so (e.g, when you viewed the apartment, when you put a deposit down, or when you signed a lease)? If the form wasn't immediately available, were you able to successfully request a copy, or did you encounter resistance?
Best answer: Mine was included with all the documentation at lease signing, without me asking. (This was in Brooklyn.)
My guess is that if your landlord has a clue, they will include it without being asked. It's required by law, after all.
posted by jrockway at 3:30 PM on July 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
My guess is that if your landlord has a clue, they will include it without being asked. It's required by law, after all.
posted by jrockway at 3:30 PM on July 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Do you have to sign the lease before they'll let you see it, or is it handed to you with the lease, when you go to sign it? The form is going to strongly influence our decision to move into a place.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 3:34 PM on July 23, 2012
posted by evidenceofabsence at 3:34 PM on July 23, 2012
Ours was in the whole packet; I can't remember if we saw it before or after the lease. You could ask right off the bat.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:36 PM on July 23, 2012
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:36 PM on July 23, 2012
Can't you just look at the bedbug registry? Never has any landlord offered up anything of the sort when I've gotten places in Brooklyn.
posted by greta simone at 4:49 PM on July 23, 2012
posted by greta simone at 4:49 PM on July 23, 2012
Response by poster: Can't you just look at the bedbug registry?
In my experience, it's pretty incomplete. I'd rather depend on legal disclosure than a third-party website.
You could ask right off the bat.
That's probably what we'll end up doing. I have a feeling that we're going to end up wasting our time (and probably money) putting a deposit down on a place and going through the paperwork, only to find out that it had a bedbug issue. At which point we're probably cutting our losses and finding something else.
Thanks for the replies, guys.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 5:32 PM on July 23, 2012
In my experience, it's pretty incomplete. I'd rather depend on legal disclosure than a third-party website.
You could ask right off the bat.
That's probably what we'll end up doing. I have a feeling that we're going to end up wasting our time (and probably money) putting a deposit down on a place and going through the paperwork, only to find out that it had a bedbug issue. At which point we're probably cutting our losses and finding something else.
Thanks for the replies, guys.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 5:32 PM on July 23, 2012
Best answer: Mine was included in the lease packet once I had asked to sign a lease.
posted by unknowncommand at 6:03 PM on July 23, 2012
posted by unknowncommand at 6:03 PM on July 23, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:30 PM on July 23, 2012