Cockroach Infestation (LTB-Maintenance)

TNT-01995 (Re), 2009 CanLII 78104 (ON LTB)

1. The Tenant advised the Landlord’s agent on July 19, 2009 that there was a cockroach infestation. The Tenant also advised the management of the building which fumigated the rental unit on July 23, 2009 with the knowledge of the Landlord. According to the Landlord, the condominium building management is responsible for pest control as part of the condominium fees paid by the Landlord.

7. I prefer the evidence of Tenant that there was a serious and ongoing infestation of cockroaches in her rental unit. C.C. gave a reasonable explanation of why “no (roach) activity found” was the conclusion of the pest control report when pest control attended on July 23, 2009. She explained that she and a cleaning lady just finished spraying and cleaning up the roaches the night before, and because she explained that roaches are nocturnal pests. The Landlord had no evidence (ideally by a pre-inspection of the rental premises) to ensure it was pest free at the time of the transfer of occupancy to the Tenants. I found the letter from the Tenants’ previous landlords rang true that the Tenants had not brought the cockroaches with them, because they noted there were no cockroaches in their rental unit before, during or after the Tenants’ tenancy with them. The Tenant C.C. brought a number of roach traps to the hearing from her unit, which I could observe directly were full of insect bodies which demonstrated the likelihood that there were multiple sites of roach infestations, small and large, in the rental unit. I believed the Tenant based on her direct and forthright testimony that the roach traps C.C. brought to the hearing room were from her unit and reflected a recent capture of pest life after the traps were laid.

10. Because I find that the Tenants suffered damages for a period of two weeks when they could not unpack their belongings and live in their unit from mid July 2009 until July 29, 2009 due to a cockroach infestation, this warrants a rebate of $312.50 calculated as 50% of half of the monthly rent of $1250. There was also further discomfort experienced by the Tenants due to the continued evidence of cockroaches for the Tenants from July 29,2009 when they started living in the unit to the date of the hearing Sept 17, 2009, sufficient to warrant an additional rebate of $375.00 calculated as 6 weeks at 20% x $1250.

SOT-09987-10 (Re), 2011 CanLII 34558 (ON LTB)

Claim

The Tenant’s complains that the rental unit had cockroaches and despite all reasonable attempts by the Landlord and by the Tenant the cockroaches were not eradicated. The Tenant seeks compensation because she was assured at the beginning of the tenancy that the building did not have bugs and further she would not have taken the unit if she had been informed about the cockroaches.

Findings

There is no question that this unit had a cockroach issue and there is no question that the Landlord did take the usual steps to attempt to eradicate the cockroaches. There is no question that the Tenant moved out because she finally could no longer stand to live in this unit.

The Landlord argued that the Tenant should have mitigated her damages. I fail to understand how this Tenant could have lessened her damages any more than she did. The Tenant gave very credible testimony. I believe that the Tenant made a valiant effort to stay in this unit despite the problems she encountered. She had to make hard choices between her own comfort and the time and money it would cost her to move somewhere else.

I find without hesitation that the Tenant would not have moved into this unit had she been told that the building had an on-going battle with cockroaches. I find that the Tenant relied, to her determent, on the assurance from the rental agent that there was no problem with bugs, pets or partying students.

Award

The Tenant will be awarded her moving costs and the costs of her out-of-pocket expenses for bug treatment.

I decline to award the Tenant the abatement she requested. The Tenant did have full use of her apartment, albeit without the enjoyment one would want. I will award the Tenant $500.00 to compensate her for the distress she experienced during this tenancy.