Bedbugs in Your Rental

Bedbugs are a serious issue. In Colorado, there are laws that protect tenants from bedbug infestations. This guide explains: 

• Your rights
• Your responsibilities
• What landlords must do

What are my landlord’s responsibilities?

If you report bedbugs to your landlord in writing, your landlord must:

1. Get a professional inspection within 96 hours (4 days).
2. Give you at least 48 hours' notice before the inspection.
   • Check your lease. It may allow your landlord to give you less notice.
   • If you want the inspection to happen sooner, you can tell your landlord you are OK with less than 48 hours' notice.
3. Tell you the inspection results within 2 days.
4. If you live in multifamily housing, inspect connected units (next door, above, and below) if bedbugs are found.
5. Hire a pest control professional to fix the problem within 5 business days of the inspection.
6. Pay for all costs of inspection and treatment.

What are my responsibilities?

You must:

1. Promptly report the bedbugs to your landlord in writing.
   • This can be email, text, a letter, or any method listed in your lease.
   • If your lease requires using a certain type of communication, you must use that.
   • For example, your lease might say that electronic notice must be sent to a certain email address or telephone number, or through an online portal.
2. Keep proof that you sent your landlord the written notice.
3. Document everything: Take photos of furniture, clothing, or skin showing evidence of bedbugs.
4. Cooperate with inspection and treatment.
   • This means preparing your home so the inspector can come in at the time your landlord tells you.
   • Remember: The inspector will be looking all through your home, including your furniture and in closets where you keep clothing.
   • If the inspector tells you not to remove certain clothing or furniture until after treatment, you must keep those items inside your home.
5. Pay for costs to prepare your home for inspection or treatment (like washing clothes or moving furniture).

If you refuse to cooperate, you may have to pay for the inspection and treatment of your home and neighboring units.

Important rules

• Your landlord is NOT required to pay for a hotel or another place for you to stay during treatment.
• If you live in multifamily housing, don’t throw away infested items in shared trash areas.
• Check your lease. If your lease requires you to give your landlord notice in a certain way, you must do that. 

Next steps

1. Send your landlord written notice as soon as you suspect you have bedbugs.
2. Keep copies of all communications.
3. Document everything: Take photos of skin or furniture with bedbugs if possible.
4. Cooperate with inspection and treatment.

New tenants: What if there are bedbugs when I move in?

• It is illegal for landlords to rent a home they know or suspect has bedbugs.
• If you ask a landlord to tell you about whether the home had bedbugs or was suspected of having bedbugs within the last eight months, they must tell you.
• Landlords must also tell future tenants the last time a home was inspected for bedbugs.
   

Need more help?

If you are low-income, a senior, or a veteran, you may qualify for free legal help from Colorado Legal Services (CLS). To apply or ask if you might qualify, go to the CLS website and find the office that serves your area. If you call or visit, CLS can help you in your native language.

You can get help from the courts. Every judicial district has staff called “Sherlocks” to help people with their legal questions. To find the Sherlock in your county, visit the Judicial Department’s Sherlock webpage.