Your NY landlord is now required to tell you there are bedbugs in the building within 72 hours of discovery
Things are looking up for New York tenants: earlier this month, a new law shifted the responsibility of paying broker fees from renters to landlords and, now, the state requires those same real estate proprietors to notify their renters by writing of the presence of bedbugs in the building within 72 hours of first being made aware of them.
To be clear, the bill that Governor Kathy Hochul signed on Friday mostly has to do with the way the notice is given—by writing.
According to Gothamist, the memo “will only be required for tenants that are in close proximity to the infestation or who are otherwise at risk.” Other building inhabitants will be told about the situation “by a publicly posted notice if the infestation reaches a common area.”
The original version of the bill required the owners to give notice to the entire building within 24 hours of learning of the infestation.
What’s more, although these specific guidelines are already adopted in New York City, landlords across the entire state will now be forced to give tenants a history of bedbug infestations within the building over the prior year.
Although Hochul signed the revamped bill into law, it will not go into effect until December 22.
Let’s be honest: just reading the word “bedbug” fills us with dread—so here’s to hoping we’ll never have to deal with the creatures in real life.