Hello all, my name is David & while I'm new as a member, I've frequented the site in the past. My girlfriend & I are moving out of our apartment of the last 3 years for something a bit bigger. We've found a place & signed a lease last Tuesday. We've so far only paid security, and the start date of our lease is March 26th.
We both viewed the apartment separately, as I work 1st shift & she works 2nd. When we went to sign our lease, the property manager went through everything with us, and something I noticed in the lease had me confused. It stated tenant is responsible for pest control, and it outlined bedbugs.
So, we sign the lease and talked with him a bit further & he goes on to say that the reason the tenant is responsible is because someone who lives/lived there had brought them back from travel. Immediately my head began to spin, as there is no way of me knowing in truth, the severity of this.
We get home & my girlfriend and I had a conversation about moving into a place that dealt with them, and it started an argument. She keeps telling me "it's probably fine" and that I'm "worrying over nothing". I'm not sure, I've never dealt with them. My mom keeps telling me there's nothing to worry about, but everyone else (co-workers) tell me to break the lease if possible with minor loss, and run.
My girlfriend called the property manager to discuss our worries, in which he laughed & stated it was a 'very' small case a tenant had on the second floor " YEARS and years ago. This still doesn't calm my nerves as that is something I can't prove or no for sure. He stated he will change our lease to include pest control by landlord. I'm not sure what to do, and I'll admit it is driving me to insanity. I'm not sure if I'll ever achieve a level of comfort living there constantly wondering "what if?".
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.