Tenants refuse access to extermination specialists

Recently, a report by TVA Nouvelles presented the case of a substandard dwelling infested with cockroaches. It is important to know that an extermination service often requires the cooperation of all the tenants in a building to treat the problem effectively. However, it happens that some tenants refuse to cooperate and to let the extermination professionals enter their dwelling.

A pest infestation can quickly spread throughout the building

As an extermination expert told us in an interview published in the June 2022 issue of Proprio magazine (no. 62), there are cases of negligence on the part of tenants that do not help the situation. Thus, a dwelling where little cleaning is done (for example, the accumulation of grease behind the stove), or compulsive hoarders who retrieve items found on the street or from an infested warehouse. “It only takes one hoarder tenant, who will never make a complaint about the bugs because they don’t want to show the condition of their unit. It is often months after the beginning of the problem that one realizes it, when the neighbors go to complain “, one could read in the article by quoting the specialist in extermination.

However, in the TVA Nouvelles report, the tenant had been asking for the intervention of extermination specialists for quite some time. The specialists took steps to implement a plan of action and to try to remedy the problem, but they were confronted with tenants who flatly refused to open the door, thus preventing them from checking their dwelling.

Obtain an access order from the TAL

CORPIQ’s Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations reminded everyone that landlords can request authorization from the Tribunal administratif du logement to enter the dwellings to restore the well-being of all tenants.

It is important to know that a landlord has the right to enter a dwelling even without authorization or without the tenant being present in urgent situations such as a water overflow. In the case of an infestation problem that requires a quick response but is not as urgent as a situation such as a water overflow into the neighbors’ home, the landlord must apply to the TAL for an access order so that the tenants are required to allow the extermination specialists into their dwelling. This order may take a few weeks to be enforced.