In an Ontario rental, pest control is the landlord's responsibility in almost every case. The Residential Tenancies Act places a legal duty on the landlord to keep the unit in a good state of repair and fit to live in, and that duty stretches to cover infestations of cockroaches, bed bugs, mice, and rats. A landlord cannot sign the duty away, even where the lease claims the tenant handles pests. This page sets out who pays, what a tenant can do when the landlord ignores it, and the single duty that does land on the tenant.
This is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, contact the Landlord and Tenant Board or a legal clinic.
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Who is responsible for pest control in an Ontario rental?
The landlord. Section 20 of Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act requires a landlord to keep the rental unit and the building in a good state of repair and fit for habitation, and to meet health, safety, and maintenance standards. An infestation of cockroaches, bed bugs, mice, or rats renders a unit unfit under that section, which puts both the treatment and the bill on the landlord.
This holds even where your lease says pest control is the tenant's responsibility. Section 4 of the same Act voids any term in a tenancy agreement that conflicts with the Act. A landlord cannot contract out of the section 20 maintenance duty. A clause that tries to make you pay for extermination has no force.
There is one narrow exception in practice. Where a tenant clearly and solely caused the infestation, a landlord can try to recover the cost, but they have to prove it at the Landlord and Tenant Board, and that is a high bar. Bed bugs and cockroaches move through walls, shared laundry, and second-hand furniture, so pinning the source on one tenant is rarely possible. The default sits with the landlord.
Who pays for bed bugs in an Ontario rental?
The landlord. Bed bugs fall under section 20 like any other infestation. The landlord arranges and pays for treatment, and in one of Scarborough's aging apartment towers along Kingston Road or Eglinton East that usually means treating the affected unit plus the ones on either side and above and below, because bed bugs travel through wall voids and outlet gaps.
A landlord who tells you "you brought them in, so you pay" is almost always wrong under Ontario law. Unless they can prove at the LTB that you alone caused it, the cost is theirs. Get any such demand in writing before you agree to anything.
Bed bug treatment is the priciest pest job there is, which is precisely why some landlords push back. A single-room chemical treatment runs a few hundred dollars, and whole-home heat treatment climbs into the thousands. None of that shifts who is responsible. If you want to know what the treatment actually involves before that conversation, read our bed bug treatment page.
Who pays for cockroaches in an Ontario rental?
The landlord, on the same section 20 footing. German cockroaches are the signature rental infestation in Scarborough's tower stock, the older high-rises and low-rises strung along Kingston Road, Eglinton East, Lawrence East, and Markham Road, where shared plumbing and pipe chases carry them from unit to unit. That spread is exactly why a genuine fix has to be coordinated across units by the landlord, not fought one apartment at a time by individual tenants.
A tenant who buys store gel bait and treats their own kitchen is taking on a building-wide problem one room at a time, and it does not hold. The roaches fall back to the untreated unit next door and return. Our cockroach control page explains why German roaches need a building-level plan.
What can a tenant do if the landlord won't deal with the pests?
Four steps, worked in order.
- Get it on record. Report the infestation to the landlord in writing, by text or email, and hold onto a copy. Put a date on it, spell out what you are finding, and ask them to book treatment. A phone call is easy for them to deny down the line, while a written trail is the evidence you will lean on.
- Phone 311 and log a property standards violation. Scarborough falls under the City of Toronto, which requires rental units to be kept free of pests through its property standards and rodent control bylaw. A municipal standards officer can come out, inspect, and order the landlord to fix it. It is often the quickest lever you have, since a city order comes with a deadline and penalties attached.
- File with the Landlord and Tenant Board. If nothing moves, submit a maintenance application, the T6, to the Landlord and Tenant Board. The Board can order the work done, grant a rent abatement covering the time you lived with the pests, and make the landlord cover costs.
- Document from start to finish. Dated photos, every written complaint, the landlord's replies, receipts for anything you had to buy yourself, and medical notes if the pests hit your health. At the Board, the tenant holding the paper trail is the one who wins.
Do not stop paying rent as your opening move. Withholding rent can drop you into arrears and expose you to an eviction application, and it is not the remedy the system recognizes. The T6 application and the property standards complaint are the channels that actually carry weight.
Can a landlord charge the tenant for pest control?
Only in the narrow case where they can prove at the LTB that the tenant alone caused the infestation, and they have to go to the Board to do it. A landlord cannot simply add an extermination charge to your account, take it out of your deposit, or bill you directly because the lease says so. That lease term is void under section 4 of the Act.
The lease clause that makes you pay for pests is not worth the paper it is printed on. Ontario law overrides it.
If a landlord has charged you or is threatening to, that is exactly the situation to raise with the Landlord and Tenant Board or a community legal clinic.
What is the tenant actually responsible for?
Cooperation, and this part matters. A tenant has a duty to keep the unit reasonably clean and to allow and support the treatment. In practice that means:
- Give the technician access. With 24 hours' written notice, the landlord or their pest company can enter to carry out the treatment. Turning them away can push responsibility back onto you and undercut a claim at the Board.
- Handle the prep. Bed bug and cockroach jobs only work on a prepared unit: bag the laundry, clear the clutter, pull furniture off the walls, empty the lower cabinets. Follow the prep sheet if the pest company hands one over. Treating an unprepared unit fails, and repeated failures traced to skipped prep can fall on the tenant.
- Avoid feeding the problem. Keeping food sealed, taking the garbage out, and not dragging in infested second-hand furniture are all fair tenant duties.
The rule of thumb: the landlord pays for and arranges the treatment, and the tenant makes the unit ready and lets the work happen. When both sides do their part, infestations clear. When the landlord stalls, the tenant's tools are the written notice, the 311 complaint, and the LTB application.
Common questions
Does my lease saying "tenant pays for pest control" mean I have to pay?
No. Any lease term that clashes with the Act is void under section 4, and pests fall squarely inside the landlord's section 20 maintenance duty. The clause carries no weight.
How fast does a landlord have to act on an infestation?
The Act sets the standard at a reasonable time rather than a fixed count of days. A live bed bug or cockroach infestation is urgent by nature, so weeks of silence after your written notice gives you solid grounds for a property standards complaint and an LTB application.
Can I be evicted for reporting pests?
No. Raising an infestation or filing a maintenance complaint is a protected act. A landlord who hits back with an eviction risks a bad-faith finding at the Board. Do not let worry about eviction keep you from putting the complaint in writing.
What if the whole building has cockroaches or bed bugs?
Then only a coordinated, building-wide treatment arranged by the landlord will hold, because these pests cross between units, which is a familiar pattern in Scarborough's older Kingston Road and Eglinton East towers. No single tenant treating one unit can end it. Report it to the landlord in writing, and to 311 if they drag their feet.
I'm a landlord. Do I really have to pay even if the tenant brought them in?
Almost always, yes. Proving one tenant alone caused a bed bug or cockroach infestation is very hard, so the duty falls back on you by default. Booking fast, professional, coordinated treatment costs less than an LTB fight and an infestation left to spread.
Who do I call first, the city or the Board?
Toronto 311, which serves Scarborough, is usually the faster route for a property standards inspection and lands a dated order on the landlord. The LTB application is where you go for orders and a rent abatement if the landlord still will not act. Plenty of tenants pursue both at once.
Reviewed August 2026.
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