Landlord-Tenant—Tenant Allegedly Refused Access for Landlord to Exterminate Bedbug Infestation—Tenant Filed Federal Action Citing Violations of the Fair Housing Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act—Housing Court Advised Federal Court That Housing Court Is Equipped to Address Such Claims—Chemical v. Non-Chemical Methods of Exterminating Bedbugs
A landlord commenced a holdover summary proceeding, alleging that a tenant had “unreasonably refused the landlord access…in order for the landlord to exterminate to remove the bedbug infestation.” A notice of termination alleged that the tenant had stated that it would “not accept the bedbug treatment for medical reasons” and that the landlord had “offered alternative treatments that, in their determination, would not affect” the tenant’s medical condition. The landlord asserted that the tenant’s failure to provide access “has caused the infestation to spread into other apartments….”
