Living with cockroaches can cause significant emotional distress, often resulting in sleep disturbances and anxiety. Unfortunately, it can also make you very sick, as cockroaches can transmit diseases, trigger allergy attacks, and worsen asthma.
If you have cockroaches in your rental property, your landlord must respond and take steps to remove the pests. A failure to do so could result in a breach of the implied warranty of habitability.
Matthew de Lira can help when your landlord fails you. We’ll gather evidence of harm, show your landlord violated the law, and help you get the money you deserve. Give our personal injury attorneys in San Diego a call at (858) 434-7749 or contact us online today to schedule your free consultation with a cockroach infestation lawyer in San Diego to learn more.
Dangers of a cockroach infestation
The National Center for Healthy Housing states clearly that “Cockroaches in the home environment are a health hazard not only because of the risks posed by cockroach antigens to asthma sufferers, but also because they can carry disease-causing germs.”
Cockroaches can:
- Trigger an allergic attack and/or an asthma attack: Antigens can be found in cockroach saliva, eggs, droppings, and the exoskeletons they shed.
- Carry bacteria: Cockroaches have been found to carry at least 33 different kinds of bacteria, including e. Coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus. As they move around your home, they can spread these bacteria.
- Spread disease: Cockroaches have also been found to spread diseases like dysentery, cholera, and diarrhea.
- Spread viruses: Some cockroaches have been found to spread dangerous viruses like polio.
- Carry parasitic worm eggs: These can spread throughout your home.
- Cause gastrointestinal illnesses: When cockroaches scavenge through your pantries and cupboards and climb onto countertops, they can transfer pathogens to everything they come into contact with.
In addition to these serious risks, the mental health effects of living with an infestation can be significant. You may need expensive medical care and may suffer property damage as a result of these insects in your home.
Holding your landlord accountable for losses
The California Department of Justice is very clear. Your landlord must provide “adequate pest control for rodents (like rats) and insects (like roaches and bed bugs).” While you need to alert your landlord to the problem, they must take reasonable steps to try to remove the insects.
If your landlord fails to do so, you may be able to:
- Pay for pest control yourself and deduct it from the rent
- Break your lease and move out
- Withhold rent until the infestation is dealt with
You also have the right to pursue a claim for any losses that were caused by your landlord’s breach of legal duty.
You should be able to recover compensation for your medical costs, work you miss, lost future earning power, pain and suffering, and emotional distress when your landlord’s failures to provide a safe living space harmed you.
Contact a Cockroach infestation lawyer in San Diego today
Attorney Matthew de Lira has spent decades fighting for renters when landlords and property owners forced them to live in unsafe conditions. We care about getting justice for you and will negotiate with the landlord or owner’s insurer or go to court to fight for fair compensation.
Give us a call today to schedule your free consultation and learn more about how a cockroach infestation lawyer in San Diego can help you.