Bed bugs are a nightmare for renters or anyone who brings them home from a hotel. These pests make homes in your bedding, clothing, and furniture, feeding on you and your family. While they don’t carry disease, they are very difficult to get rid of and can travel easily via luggage and clothing. They can also affect your ability to sleep, which can impact every part of your life.
If your apartment or hotel room is infested with bed bugs as a result of a landlord’s or hotel’s negligence, you may deserve compensation. We can help you determine whether you can sue your landlord or a negligent hotel. Call KJT Law Group today to get started.
Bed bug eggs are white and minuscule, around the size of a pinhead. Young bed bugs are also very small and whitish in color. Most people don’t see bed bugs until they have grown into adults. This means they are very difficult to detect until they become a big problem, especially because a female bed bug can lay five eggs per day and live for 10 months. And since a bed bug typically matures in 21 days, these eggs can continuously hatch and breed, prolonging and growing the infestation.
If you don’t detect bed bugs, or if your landlord or a hotel refuses to do anything about bed bugs they are aware of, you face an infestation that can be difficult or even impossible to get rid of without throwing away your possessions. This is especially true because they spread so easily; you could face an infestation of your apartment within days.
According to Orkin, Los Angeles is the fifth-most bed bug-infested city in the United States. Per the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, there has been a recent resurgence of bed bug infestations. While most people associate bed bugs with a transient lifestyle, bed bug infestations have been found in rental homes, hotels, and motels throughout Los Angeles. The DPH suspects that many bed bugs are a result of tourists who brought them in their luggage from their homes or other guest lodging.
Bed bugs are so common in Los Angeles because of the sheer number of multiple-unit rental properties throughout the city and beyond.
Bed bugs are a public health pest, and they are very difficult to get rid of, especially because they can live for months without eating.
It’s a common myth that pesticides alone will get rid of or control bed bugs. Most people find this out when they (or their landlord) attempt to take care of bed bugs without professional help and monitoring. This is partially because bed bugs are becoming more and more resistant to traditional elimination methods.
In many cases, treatments will do nothing to control the infestation, and people will be left needing to throw out heavily infested items like couches or mattresses. This can end up costing you thousands of dollars to replace, on top of the pest control costs if your landlord refuses to act (or if a bed bug hitched a ride on your luggage after you stayed at a hotel).
As we discussed above, the EPA recognizes bed bugs as a public health issue. As such, many states, including California, have enacted laws and regulations regarding bed bugs.
Per CIV 1954.603, landlords must provide all tenants with information about identifying bed bugs. The notice must be in 10 pt font or larger and include the following information:
Per CIV 1954.602, a landlord cannot show, rent, or lease a vacant apartment or home that has a bed bug infestation.
Per CIV 1954.605, landlords must notify renters of any findings of a pest control operator’s inspection. They must do so in writing within two business days of the findings. If the infestation is in a common area, every tenant must receive notice of the findings.
Many tenants don’t report their concerns to their landlords because they are afraid they will be evicted. Per CIV 1942.5, it is illegal for landlords to retaliate against tenants for reporting a suspected infestation or complaining about the tenantability of a living space. If your landlord evicted you, raised your rent, or decreased any services within 180 days of your complaint, you can sue them. We can help.
California law requires landlords to keep their dwellings safe and well-maintained. One of these requirements is keeping their units free from roaches, rats, and other vermin. If they fail to do so, the apartment may be uninhabitable under California law.
They are, as stated above, also prohibited from evicting you in retaliation for exercising your rights.
You paid good money to stay in a safe, habitable hotel room only to find it infested with bed bugs. You can hold the hotel liable and recover compensation for your losses and distress.
In fact, a June 2025 court decision shows that courts take these cases seriously. A Ventura County jury awarded $2 million to two men who suffered considerable distress due to a known bed bug infestation in their room at an inn.
You may be able to sue your landlord. Unfortunately, your argument will be your word against the landlord unless you have proof. To prove your landlord knew about the infestation, you and your lawyer can provide:
This is a common defense to tenant lawsuits against landlords. They will claim that the bed bugs were not there when you moved in (and were not in another unit in the building), so it is your responsibility to get rid of them. Our team will investigate your claim, establishing that there is evidence of bed bug infestation within the building (bed bugs can easily travel through pipes and cracks in walls) or that your landlord knew about the bed bugs in your apartment before they rented it to you.
Your landlord may also claim that you exacerbated the infestation or didn’t report it early enough. CIV 1954.600 states that to reduce infestations, tenants need to reduce clutter, wash clothes, and perform other tasks deemed necessary.
If you brought bed bugs home with you from a trip, you may be able to hold the hotel management liable. Our team can build a case on your behalf. We can also sue the hotel if you were bitten during your stay.
There are several things you need to do after finding a bed bug in your apartment, rental home, or hotel room:
Holding a landlord or hotel liable is hard to do without legal experience or knowledge of tenant rights in regards to bed bugs in a rental house or apartment in California. You don’t want to handle this on your own. Our team is here to handle the entire process for you. We will:
KJT Law Group is dedicated to Practicing the Art of Law. We have recovered over $100 million for Californians and we want to do the same for you. Many law firms refer the bed bug cases they get, funneling the case through for a referral fee. Not us. We don’t refer out cases; we try them.
And while we limit our caseload to ensure we are able to give every client the attention they deserve, no case is too complex, big, or small for us to take on.
Let us roll up our sleeves and get to work for you.
Getting rid of bed bugs is costly. We understand that you may not have any disposable income you can use to hire an attorney right now. We don’t want you worried about that, so we handle cases on a contingency fee basis. You don’t pay us anything upfront; in fact, you only pay us if and when we recover compensation for you.
A bed bug infestation can affect every aspect of your life. You may be unable to sleep, travel, have people over, or visit friends. It is also often very costly to attempt to manage or prevent the infestation from coming back. If you were exposed to a bed bug infestation while on vacation, your trip was probably ruined. We want to help you get your life (and money) back. Call KJT Law Group now to get started. We offer free consultations and can help you in English, Spanish, or Armenian. We’ll want to see how we can help you sue a hotel or your landlord today.
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