What Defends You

Bed Bug Prep and Reasonable Accommodation

Written for: PHA staff, HUD-assisted and LIHTC property managers, fair housing compliance officers, resident services coordinators

Parts of this page marked Professional synthesis, not law are a Board Certified Entomologist's reading of published records. They are not legal rules, they are not legal advice, and they are written to read the same for an owner, a resident, or either side's counsel.

Bed bug treatment usually asks a lot of the resident: bagging and laundering bedding and clothing, pulling furniture from walls, clearing floors and closets. Some residents cannot do that work because of age, disability or illness. Others react to the products used. This page covers what the published record says about both, and how to document the help offered.

What happened in Harmon

Harmon v. Biltmore Realty Co. is an unpublished New Jersey appellate opinion. It states that it is not precedent. It is described here for its facts.

An apartment failed a state inspection for bed bugs. The exterminator could not eliminate them,

arguably because plaintiff was physically unable to comply with the preparation procedures, which included removing all bedding and clothing, moving furniture six inches from the wall and taking down all curtains.

The resident, an elderly woman, was relocated to another unit, which became infested within months. The owner then served notices to cease and to vacate over inadequate preparation. The court, in a footnote, said it was unlikely “an octogenarian was able to perform all of the tasks to prepare the apartment,” and wrote:

We consider defendants’ characterization of plaintiff as an uncooperative and disruptive tenant dubious.

On appeal, her disability-discrimination claim was dismissed for lack of a proven protected disability, along with her other statutory claims. Her common-law claims had already settled. Harmon is not a ruling that an owner must perform a resident’s preparation. It is a record of how a failed-prep narrative looked to a court when the resident plainly could not do the work.

What HUD asks of residents and owners

For HUD-insured and assisted multifamily properties, Notice H 2012-5 asks residents to cooperate:

Cooperation includes allowing the O/A to enter the unit to perform inspections and treatments, allowing pest treatments to occur, following the pest treatment protocol, and removing infested furniture or other items from common areas such as hallways or community rooms. — HUD Notice H 2012-5, § V

HUD’s 2019 clarification lists as questionable any provision that requires subsidized residents to buy equipment such as mattress covers or vacuum cleaners. See HUD Multifamily Bed Bug Rules.

Chemical sensitivity

HUD’s public housing IPM notice names residents who react to pesticides:

Some residents may suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or other Environmental Illnesses. — HUD Notice PIH-2011-22, § 4.g

HUD’s Office of General Counsel concluded in 1992 that these conditions can be disabilities under the Fair Housing Act, which then used the word “handicap”:

In sum, we conclude that MCS and EI can constitute handicaps under the Act. — HUD Legal Opinion GME-0009 (Mar. 5, 1992)

The same opinion drew a line at ordinary allergies:

Thus, while we conclude that MCS or EI can be handicaps under the Act, ordinary allergies generally would not be such. — HUD Legal Opinion GME-0009 (Mar. 5, 1992)

The opinion is a legal opinion of HUD’s General Counsel from 1992, not a regulation, and its conclusion is that these conditions can qualify, case by case.

Documenting preparation and the help offered

Professional synthesis, not law

These are documentation practices drawn from the facts above. They are not legal requirements and not legal advice on fair housing obligations, which counsel should advise on.

• Give the instructions in writing, in plain language, in the resident’s language, and keep a copy with the date given. The Resident Prep Sheets are written for that, in English and Spanish.
• Put the offer of help in the same document. Each prep sheet ends with a line asking residents who cannot do the steps to say so. Record when a resident asks, what help was arranged, and who did the work.
• Record what the technician found on arrival, neutrally. “Bedding not bagged; resident reports she cannot lift the mattress” is a record. “Resident uncooperative” is a characterization.
• Adjust the method before blaming the prep. Much of a bed bug treatment can be done by the professional with heat, steam and vacuuming, with less moving of belongings by the resident. Ask the pest professional what the method needs from the resident and what it can do without.
• For a resident who reports chemical sensitivity, ask the pest professional for the products proposed, their labels and Safety Data Sheets, and non-chemical options, before the visit. Record the request and the answer.
• If a resident is moved, treat or contain belongings before the move, and inspect the new unit on the same schedule as the old one.