Rabies Exposure: Landlord or Tenant Responsible for Medical Expenses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the landlord knew about the hole and ignored it you'd have a case, but there's no evidence of that here

Is there a VA tenant-landlord law you can point me to that confirms your response?

Subject to other things that could be in your lease, or from your city, neither of which we have...

VA law: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/virginia-residential-landlord-and-tenant-act/

See section 55.1-1220 - Fit premises: "The landlord shall perform the duties imposed by subsection A in accordance with law; however, the landlord shall only be liable for the tenant's actual damages proximately caused by the landlord's failure to exercise ordinary care."

"Ordinary care" means what a reasonable human would do. A reasonable human does not proactively inspect houses for bat holes. They fix bat holes they become aware of quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way should the landlord pay. The five of you getting rabies vaccines because a bat got into your house is completely over the top. I never heard of such a thing.

This. The health dept and animal control always say to get the shots but it’s overkill. You would know if you were. bitten. And even if bitten it doesn’t mean the bay was rabid. It just accidentally got in your house.
This is on you, sorry..

[Anonymous]

I honestly can't believe the Health Department doesn't pick up the cost.

I think you have a tough case against the landlord if they acted quickly to address the situation.

I think I'd be appealing with my insurance and sending the bill to the NPR bill of the month series and local news. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please people, inform yourselves before posting.

It is definitely recommended to get rabies shots if you wake up in a house with a bat. Bats are common carriers and their bites are mostly undetectable.

The risk of rabies is high enough that it makes immediate treatment highly recommended. If you wait for symptoms, it’s too late.

The OP did not specify this happened while they were sleeping. To me it sounded like they walked in after work and there was a bat there, and they all fled and immediately went to the hospital or something. I'm glad OP clarified, and I'm glad they are protected!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way should the landlord pay. The five of you getting rabies vaccines because a bat got into your house is completely over the top. I never heard of such a thing.

This. The health dept and animal control always say to get the shots but it’s overkill. You would know if you were. bitten. And even if bitten it doesn’t mean the bay was rabid. It just accidentally got in your house.
This is on you, sorry..

"Overkill" is a great word choice here. True galaxy brain thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way should the landlord pay. The five of you getting rabies vaccines because a bat got into your house is completely over the top. I never heard of such a thing.

Not op but yes you do need to get vaccinated because it’s possible the bat bit you in your sleep and you didn’t realize it.

Try to trap the bat or get animal control to trap and call animal control to get it tested. That way you still need to get the first vaccine but if the test comes back negative, you can skip the rest of the shots in the series.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the landlord knew about the hole and ignored it you'd have a case, but there's no evidence of that here

Is there a VA tenant-landlord law you can point me to that confirms your response?

Subject to other things that could be in your lease, or from your city, neither of which we have...

VA law: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodepopularnames/virginia-residential-landlord-and-tenant-act/

See section 55.1-1220 - Fit premises: "The landlord shall perform the duties imposed by subsection A in accordance with law; however, the landlord shall only be liable for the tenant's actual damages proximately caused by the landlord's failure to exercise ordinary care."

"Ordinary care" means what a reasonable human would do. A reasonable human does not proactively inspect houses for bat holes. They fix bat holes they become aware of quickly.

Thank you! This is the type of resource I was looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way should the landlord pay. The five of you getting rabies vaccines because a bat got into your house is completely over the top. I never heard of such a thing.

Not op but yes you do need to get vaccinated because it’s possible the bat bit you in your sleep and you didn’t realize it.

Try to trap the bat or get animal control to trap and call animal control to get it tested. That way you still need to get the first vaccine but if the test comes back negative, you can skip the rest of the shots in the series.

OP here, we weren’t able to capture the bat unfortunately. It would have spared us time and expense if we could have had it tested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly can't believe the Health Department doesn't pick up the cost.

I think you have a tough case against the landlord if they acted quickly to address the situation.

I think I'd be appealing with my insurance and sending the bill to the NPR bill of the month series and local news. Ridiculous.

Why would the health department pick up the cost? There’s an established protocol for a bat expose while sleeping. They followed the protocol.

[Anonymous]

You sleep with all your bedroom doors open?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way should the landlord pay. The five of you getting rabies vaccines because a bat got into your house is completely over the top. I never heard of such a thing.

This. The health dept and animal control always say to get the shots but it’s overkill. You would know if you were. bitten. And even if bitten it doesn’t mean the bay was rabid. It just accidentally got in your house.
This is on you, sorry..

No, you wouldn't know if you were bitten by a bat because the bites are tiny. And the bat may not have been rabid, but there's no way to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please people, inform yourselves before posting.

It is definitely recommended to get rabies shots if you wake up in a house with a bat. Bats are common carriers and their bites are mostly undetectable.

The risk of rabies is high enough that it makes immediate treatment highly recommended. If you wait for symptoms, it’s too late.

The OP did not specify this happened while they were sleeping. To me it sounded like they walked in after work and there was a bat there, and they all fled and immediately went to the hospital or something. I'm glad OP clarified, and I'm glad they are protected!

OP here. Sorry I wasn’t clear. Yes, we were sleeping which is why we had to get vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

I can't believe a landlord would be responsible for these costs. Most houses have space where critters can get in from time to time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sleep with all your bedroom doors open?

Unfortunately, yes.

The kids sleep always sleep with open doors (they’re fairly young).

Mine was open because a kiddo came in in the middle of the night. So unfortunately we were all considered exposed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way should the landlord pay. The five of you getting rabies vaccines because a bat got into your house is completely over the top. I never heard of such a thing.

This. The health dept and animal control always say to get the shots but it’s overkill. You would know if you were. bitten. And even if bitten it doesn’t mean the bay was rabid. It just accidentally got in your house.
This is on you, sorry..

"Overkill" is a great word choice here. True galaxy brain thinking.

NP, $400/person to avoid a small chance of death seems like a good value to me, but feel free to make your own decisions if you are ever exposed to a bat.