Property owners ordered to pay 16,000 euros to downstairs neighbours following bedbug infestation

A court in Spain's Balearic Islands has ordered the owners of a rented flat to pay 6,925 euros to their downstairs neighbours for expenses generated by a bedbug infestation and another 9,000 euros in compensation for the damage caused, as well as legal costs. In addition, the landlords have been ordered to take care of the necessary treatments by hiring a company to eradicate the pests.

According to the ruling, the infestation started from the defendants' flat, which was rented to second or third parties. Testimonies stated that several people were "coming and going, bringing mattresses and other objects collected from the street". As a result, bedbugs nested in the property and proliferated, until they produced such an infestation that they reached the plaintiffs' flat through the clotheslines.

The magistrates stated that the injured parties should be "duly compensated", because they have no co-responsibility. "They complied by informing the homeowners' association," the ruling says. The president of the association told the court that she had initially thought that the plaintiffs were exaggerating, until her flat was also infested. The criminal court, however, "dismissed the complaint and paid for fumigations in the hope that the infestation would be eradicated".

In the final sentence, the provincial court considers that the plaintiffs had no responsibility for the damage and that they "had suffered undeniable psychological and economic damage".

The magistrates also highlighted that the infestation victims suffered from illnesses and were undergoing treatments. "A situation to which compensation for moral damages is jurisprudentially applied, specifically when it concerns the anxiety, distress, or inner discomfort that must be taken into account so that the redress for those who suffer it is not limited to a financial payment," the court stated.