Landlords have gained a notorious reputation for swindling tenants and taking forever to respond to complaints. They can raise the rent at a moment’s notice, charge for things they should really be paying for, and even renege on lease agreements.
For one tenant, though, these would seem like small issues compared to the mess she came back to after her vacation. While she was gone, her landlord had the place inspected for bees, discovered a hive, and proceeded to knock a hole in her wall. Then she left her to deal with the mess.
More info: TikTok
Landlord contacted tenant on vacation to ask if she could inspect her place for bees
Image credits: apollostarr22
Tenant gave landlord the go-ahead and the inspection revealed a massive hive
Image credits: apollostarr22
Landlord proceeded to smash a hole in the interior wall to release the bees
Image credits: Johann Piber (not the actual photo)
Tenant returned to rooms littered with dead and dying bees, as well as some still trying to escape
Image credits: awesomecontent (not the actual photo)
Tenant tried to reach out to landlord for help, but she ghosted her, so she had to move out with her cat, boyfriend, and all her stuff
In her 55-second-long tirade, TikToker @apollostarr22 reveals to the community that, while she was on holiday in Ireland, her landlord got in touch with her to ask if it would be OK to inspect for any bees’ nests. She gave the go-ahead and a worker came in and did the scan, only to discover a beehive in the wall.
OP adds, “Instead of doing anything to try to fix it, he just smashes a hole in the wall and lets all the bees loose in your second bedroom so you have to remove all your belongings and your cat from your apartment and now you just have a room full of dead bees, and some of them are alive and some of them are trying to still get out.”
In her follow-up post, she offers an update on the buzz. After making some corrections to her original post, she says, “To my knowledge, the person that came into our apartment was an actual beekeeper, like, we have his card.”
She goes on to add that, when the beekeeper came in initially and opened the ceiling, he had removed some bees from the wall and, at the time that he left, there weren’t a lot of bees around.
Eventually, the landlord told her they’d be having another beekeeper come in to check if the queen had been removed and that the process is apparently complicated, since in New York State, honeybees are a protected species and have to be removed alive.
OP also explained that, if she opens her windows, more bees come in due to the bees inside releasing signaling pheromones.
Apparently, someone’s coming in to fix the hole in OP’s wall, she and her boyfriend have been scrubbing raw honey off the walls, and their cat is back home and doing well.
OP added, “I do not have the resources or the time to get a lawyer, so I will not be choosing that method. I’m just hoping that I can use that room by the end of this week.”
Watch the full video here
In her article for Legal Zoom, former attorney Brette Sember writes that, if you rent a home, apartment, or condo, you have many rights you may not know about that govern your living space, your use of it, and your landlord's responsibilities.
Renters' Rights are defined as a collection of federal, state and local laws that are designed to prevent rent gouging and housing discrimination while ensuring that tenants have a clean and safe place to live. These rights provide tenants with legal recourse if the landlord allows the property to become uninhabitable.
One of the most crucial tenant’s rights is to a habitable residence. This means the home must be safe to live in and have usable heat, utilities, and water. Your landlord is compelled to make any necessary repairs to keep your unit in reasonable condition while you live there.
This includes the right, in most states, to withhold rent or to repair the problem and deduct the cost of doing so from the rent (known as “repair and deduct”). States without a “repair and deduct” statute typically require tenants to notify the landlord about the problem and give them a certain period of time to address it.
Sember says that there are also specific landlord-tenant rights regarding your security deposit. State laws control how long the landlord has to return your deposit and whether or not interest will be accrued. If any of your deposit is withheld, you are entitled to documentation detailing the damage it is being used to repair.
Bored Panda reached out to Jonathan Forisha, Director of Education and Community at TurboTenant, to get his expert opinion on the situation facing OP. When we asked him what options would be available to OP, he said that any tenant entered into a signed lease agreement has certain rights, including the right to habitable premises and the right to safe and clean dwelling units.
"It's fair to say that thousands of bees would infringe on the unit's habitability, and it certainly wouldn't lead to a safe or clean dwelling. So, bare minimum, this landlord is in violation of infringing on their tenant's rights," he added.
He added that, based on the TikTok, it appears that the issue was exacerbated by the landlord cutting a hole in the wall, to effectively give the rental to the bees. What did the landlord actually do right here? Well, at least they asked permission to enter the rental.
Forisha says that, ideally, the landlord should have let the tenant know there was an issue, called out a beekeeper (there are tons of beekeepers who would relocate a beehive for free), and communicated clearly about timeline and expectations. If it took an especially long time, they should have locked off that room of the property or even paid for a night in a hotel.
We asked Forisha whether he thought the tenant had a right to withhold rent until the situation was resolved, and he had this to say, "In the world of rentals, the warranty of habitability implies that landlords will take care of any repairs that make the unit uninhabitable."
Forisha went on to say that it varies by state, but landlords typically have between 3-7 days to fix critical repairs and 30 days to fix non-critical repairs. Bees colluding to take over the property definitely qualifies as needing a critical repair."
He added that, in this case, the renters should check their lease agreement and their state laws, but they likely can legally withhold rent until a critical repair is resolved. Forisha says, "A lease agreement has two sides, and if the landlord isn't upholding their side (offering a safe and habitable place to live), then the renter shouldn't continue paying,"
What do you think of the sticky mess OP has found herself in? Would you withhold rent until the situation is resolved, or just hope the problem gets dealt with as soon as possible? Let us know your opinion in the comments!
Many commenters suggested the woman should take legal action or at least withhold rent until the situation was fixed
Image credits: DC Studio (not the actual photo)
