I recently helped a gentleman, going through a divorce, move into a rental home. He had looked at a number of homes in the area (an area he has personally lived in for a number of years), and what he generally found on the rental market was in rather rough shape.
I showed him a rental home that was clean and in very good shape for its age, having been most recently lived in by the landlord. He said it was the nicest thing he’d seen, and if he gets the means to purchase the home, he’d buy it.
So you can imagine my surprise when just over a week after he’d moved in, he calls me in almost a panic asking how he can get out of this lease. He said he’d seen 3 scorpions in the last week, which is something he’d never ever seen before, and he’s almost unable to sleep at night in fear of more scorpions.
Unfortunately for him, he’d never mentioned this phobia (he didn’t even know he had it) prior to signing the lease. Pest control was called out in the lease as the tenant’s responsibility, but nothing specifically regarding scorpions was disclosed by the landlord, which tends to be the case with a rental property.
During the first half of this initial call I’m worried about getting sued myself, and I’m hesitant to offer any advice, as he’s already talking about getting a lawyer.
In my head, I figure we could negotiate a settlement, but the landlord has costs associated with vacancy and commissions. I loosely estimate he could be out somewhere around 2 months rent, on a home he’s only lived in for a week.
Instead of going legal and/or trying to negotiate out of the lease, I advised him to get a pest control service in place. The home had been vacant for a while prior to him moving in, and perhaps he’s just scared up the critters that moved in while no one else was home.
As it turns out, he called me back 12 hours later, having done some online research and even chatting with some of the neighbors. The neighbors said his side of the street did tend to have some scorpions, but that they weren’t epidemic. He’s cautiously optimistic that thorough spraying and some black light “hunting” will fix the problem.
Since I live in a home that sees a lot of scorpions, in part because it borders natural preserve land, I felt comfortable enough to give him this added bit scorpion related advice: to avoid scorpions in your bed, do not let any part of the blankets or sheets fall all the way to the floor. Doing so gives a path for scorpions to crawl up into your bed. Scorpions aren’t like ants. They can’t climb up vertical surfaces, so you won’t find them where you don’t want them, unless you make it easy for them.
This situation points out the need for proper and complete inspections during the inspection period for anyone considering a property for purchase or for lease. If there is something that is material to you as a buyer or a tenant, you must inspect for it during the inspection period and have it addressed at that time.
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