Who Is Responsible for Pest Control in NYC: Landlord or Tenant?

Your landlord carries the pest control duty in any NYC building with three or more apartments. Administrative Code 27-2017.1 requires the owner to keep the premises free from pests and to remediate the underlying defect that let them in, and no lease clause can move that duty to you. Your side is narrower: keep the apartment clean, store food and garbage where pests cannot reach them, report what you see, and give access for the work.

Owner Duty Under the Indoor Allergen Hazards Law

Local Law 55 of 2018 repealed the old extermination section, 27-2018, and replaced it with sections 27-2017 through 27-2017.12, Control of Pests and Other Asthma Allergen Triggers. Citations to 27-2018 still circulate, and they point at a section that no longer exists.

The live duty reads flatly. An owner "shall keep the premises free from pests and other indoor allergen hazards and from any condition conducive to indoor allergen hazards", shall prevent their reasonably foreseeable occurrence, and shall expeditiously remediate them "and any underlying defect, when such underlying defect exists". Local Law 55 first passed with the softer phrase "take reasonable measures to" in front of each of those three verbs. Local Law 51 of 2019 struck all three, retroactive to the date Local Law 55 took effect.

Roaches, mice or rats in any room of your apartment or in a common area are an immediately hazardous Class C violation under 27-2017.4(b). The correction date is 21 days after HPD serves the notice of violation. HPD can add up to 14 more days if the owner shows inside that window that work began and cannot finish, including because nobody could get into the apartment.

Section 27-2017.8 controls the method. The owner must remove nests and pest waste by HEPA vacuuming or washing surfaces, seal holes, gaps and cracks in walls, ceilings, floors, baseboards, cabinets and around pipes, fit door sweeps that reduce gaps to no more than a quarter inch, and repair the drains, faucets and plumbing that leak or hold water. Pesticide use "shall not substitute" for that work, and anything applied must be applied by a pest professional licensed by New York State DEC. That list is what the law counts as pest control in a rental building, so a spray visit with the gaps left open has not corrected the violation.

Two duties sit upstream of any complaint. Under 27-2017.2 the owner investigates every occupied apartment and the common areas at least once a year, and again whenever a tenant complains or asks for an inspection, and every lease carries an HPD-approved notice of both sides' obligations. Under 27-2017.5 the owner clears visible mold and pest infestations before a new tenant moves in, then certifies that in writing to the incoming tenant.

Tenant Duties on Access and Cleanliness

Three sections carry your obligations, and treatment is in none of them. Section 27-2012(a) requires you to keep the apartment you occupy "in a clean and sanitary condition". Section 27-2019 puts the storage of food, garbage and anything else that feeds or shelters pests on owner and tenants together. Section 27-2008 requires you to let the owner or an employee in for repairs and inspections at a reasonable time, and under 27-2009 a conviction for unreasonable refusal of access is grounds for the owner to sue for possession.

HPD's own guidance for tenants gives the practical version: food in sealed containers, counters and sinks clean, clutter such as newspapers and paper bags cleared, garbage cans with tight-fitting lids, trash out every day, and pesticides avoided. The Health Department fact sheet that comes with your lease adds two. Tell the owner or super as soon as you see pests, a leak or a crack, and let building staff in.

Poor housekeeping does not end the owner's duty. Under 27-2006 you answer for a violation only where you had the power to prevent it, through your own wilful act or the gross negligence, neglect or abuse of you, your household or a guest, and subdivision c states that your liability "does not relieve the owner of his or her obligation to keep the premises, and every part thereof, in good repair". Access is the one place where your choice moves the owner's clock. The sealing, the HEPA work and the repeat visits that keep roaches out of an NYC apartment stay with the owner.

Lease Clauses That Try to Shift the Duty

A clause moving pest control onto you fails on its own terms. Section 27-2017.12(a) reads: "No owner may seek to have an occupant of a dwelling unit waive the benefit or protection of any provision of this article. Any agreement by the occupant of a dwelling unit purporting to waive the benefit or protection of any provision of this article is void." The same subdivision makes an owner who seeks that waiver guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 or up to six months imprisonment or both, and liable for a civil penalty of up to $500 per violation.

The clause is void rather than voidable, so signing the lease costs you none of the protection in the article. Whether the owner can still charge you for pest control after doing the work is a separate question.

Subdivision b leaves one allocation standing, between a co-op shareholder and the corporation or a condo unit owner and the board of managers. That is an agreement between owners, not a waiver signed by a tenant.

Buildings and Units Outside the Article

Two carve-outs sit in 27-2017.12. Subdivision c lifts the article, other than section 27-2017.10, off a co-op or condo unit occupied by the shareholder of record or the unit owner of record, or their family. The occupancy half of that test does the work: a co-op or condo apartment that the shareholder rents out to you stays inside the article, with the same Class C classification and the same 21 days. Subdivision d removes NYCHA apartments from the article altogether, so the classes and deadlines above do not describe a NYCHA repair.

Disputes Over Who Caused the Infestation

An HPD inspection settles the argument, because the inspector records the condition rather than the accounts. HPD asks about pests on every inspection, whatever the complaint was about. In FY25, tenants reported pests on 29% of inspections that had nothing to do with pests, and HPD issued a pest violation in 52% of those cases.

Only the owner, a managing agent, an officer of the owning corporation or the party named on the property registration may certify a violation corrected, and for a roach, mouse or rat violation that certification must carry an affidavit that the 27-2017.8 work practices were performed. Clearing a pest violation is the owner's job.

Met Council on Housing tells tenants to put every repair request in writing even after speaking to the super, and to keep copies. Dated letters and photographs hold up when an owner tells HPD the treatment already happened.

HPD says in its FY25 report to the City Council that 21 days "may not be sufficient to completely eradicate the pest infestation", and that an owner working in good faith may miss the correction date. For FY26 HPD plans to weigh a longer postponement window and to finish a referral route handing buildings with pest violations to the Health Department for enhanced enforcement.

The Building's Own Pest Record

Check what the building has been cited for. You can look up any NYC address on this site with no login and see HPD violations, complaints and legal actions, DOB violations and permits, ECB violations, rodent inspections, bed bug reports and 311 complaints near the address.

Read it against the city. HPD issued 39,480 roach violations, 30,787 mice violations and 3,471 rat violations in FY25, the year to June 2025, with rat violations up from 1,800, a rise HPD attributes to enhanced inspection protocols and inspector retraining. Across buildings with three or more apartments, our own September 2026 figures put the citywide average at 30.1 HPD violations per 100 apartments, 9.2 of them Class C, and 8.8 rodent complaints to 311 per 1,000 apartments. A building far above that on pest violations has a maintenance pattern.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does my landlord have to get rid of roaches?

The correction date on a roach, mouse or rat violation is 21 days after HPD serves the notice, and HPD can add up to 14 days if the owner asks inside that window. HPD notes that eradication often takes several treatments over months, so the deadline and the end of the infestation differ.

Can my lease make me responsible for pest control?

No. Section 27-2017.12(a) voids any agreement by an occupant waiving the benefit or protection of the pest and mold article, and an owner who seeks that waiver faces a misdemeanor charge plus a civil penalty of up to $500 per violation. The clause is void whether or not you signed it.

Does my landlord still have to act if my apartment is messy?

Yes. You owe a clean and sanitary apartment under 27-2012(a), and under 27-2006 you answer for a violation you had the power to prevent through a wilful act or gross neglect. Subdivision c of that section keeps the owner on the hook for repairs regardless, so the treatment obligation stays put.

What if the roaches are coming from another apartment?

The violation attaches to roaches in any room of a unit or in a common area, so your apartment is covered regardless of the source. The yearly investigation duty covers every occupied unit and the common areas, and the sealing work targets the shared routes: walls, baseboards, pipe runs and door gaps.

What happens if a neighbor will not let the exterminator in?

The owner can ask HPD for a postponement of up to 14 days on the ground of being unable to gain access, provided the request comes inside the correction window. The neighbor still owes access under 27-2008, and your own complaint and violation stay live meanwhile.

Do the same pest rules apply in NYCHA apartments and co-ops?

No. Section 27-2017.12(d) takes NYCHA apartments out of the article. Subdivision c takes out a co-op or condo unit occupied by the shareholder or unit owner of record, or their family. A co-op or condo apartment rented to someone else stays covered, with the same 21-day correction date.