Fleas are unusual among Virginia pests in having produced a published appellate decision. Parrish v. Vance, decided by the Court of Appeals of Virginia on March 12, 2024, began as a flea infestation in an Alexandria rental where the lease made pest control the tenant's responsibility — and ended by establishing that such a clause cannot waive the landlord's statutory duty.
If you are renting and finding fleas, that case is about your situation almost exactly. If you own, the identification below still matters, because fleas are confused with two other things that call for completely different responses.
This is general information, not legal advice. How a decision applies to your facts is a separate question from what it held. Consult a Virginia attorney or your local legal aid office.
Confirming it is fleas
Bites cluster low. Ankles, calves, the backs of knees — fleas do not fly and rarely reach above mid-calf on a standing adult. A small red spot with a darker centre, usually in irregular groups of three or four.
Flea dirt is the reliable test, and it takes a minute. Comb the animal, or brush the carpet near where it sleeps, onto a damp white paper towel. Flea faeces is digested blood: black specks that spread into a rust-red halo as they wet. Ordinary dirt does not.
The white sock test. Walk slowly through the suspect room in white knee socks for a few minutes, then look. Fleas jump to a passing host and are visible against white.
They jump; they do not fly. Anything flying is not a flea.
The animal tells you before you do. Persistent scratching, biting at the base of the tail, thinning fur behind the shoulders.
What it is not
Not bed bugs. Bed bug bites are more often on arms, shoulders and torso — the parts exposed while sleeping — and their spotting is on the mattress seams and headboard rather than in carpet. Bed bug faeces bleeds into fabric; flea dirt goes rusty on a wet towel. Dark specks on sheets →
Not mites or a skin condition. If bites appear on people, no insect is ever found, no pet is present and nothing turns up on a white towel, an entomological answer may not be the right one.
Not necessarily your pet. Fleas persist in a property between tenancies and between owners. A flea problem in a home with no animal usually means the previous occupant had one, and the pupae waited.
Why they come back after treatment
This is the fact that explains most of the frustration, and the one that mattered in court.
A flea's life cycle runs egg, larva, pupa, adult. Adults on the animal are perhaps a twentieth of the population; the rest is eggs, larvae and pupae in carpet, cracks and bedding. The pupal stage is armoured and resistant, and it can wait — weeks, and in the right conditions considerably longer — until vibration, warmth or carbon dioxide signals a host.
So a treatment kills the adults, the property goes quiet, and two weeks later a new generation emerges from pupae that the treatment never touched. The infestation appears to return; it was never gone.
Effective control means treating the animal, treating the environment, and repeating on a schedule matched to that cycle — usually more than one visit, and always with vacuuming between them, because vibration triggers emergence and vacuuming removes what emerges.
A single visit that does not work is not necessarily a failure of the operator. It may be a failure of the plan. That distinction matters if the question of who pays is heading anywhere formal.
What the 2024 decision changed
A tenant rented a single-family home in Alexandria and reported fleas on the day she took possession. Exterminators treated the property. The fleas allegedly persisted over the following months. The lease said the tenant was responsible for "controlling and eliminating household pests."
The Court of Appeals held that a lease provision purporting to waive a tenant's rights or remedies required by law is unenforceable, and that the warranty of habitability under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act cannot be waived by agreement.
Why this needed deciding at all is an asymmetry in the code that most summaries never mention. § 55.1-1227, setting out tenant duties, names insects and pests explicitly. § 55.1-1220, setting out landlord duties, does not mention insects, vermin or extermination anywhere — the obligation reaches pests only through the requirement to keep the premises fit and habitable. Before the decision the landlord had a statute and a clause; the tenant had an inference. The case in full →
What it did not do. It did not make landlords liable for every pest, and it did not repeal the tenant's duties. Reporting promptly still matters, and cost caused by a tenant's own delay or fault still falls on the tenant.
And note the fact pattern. The landlord did send exterminators. Treatment happened and did not resolve it. That shape — repeated ineffective treatment — is legally different from a landlord who refuses, and given the pupal stage described above, it is the shape flea cases take.
What to do today
Do the white towel test and photograph the result. It costs nothing and it is the difference between "I think we have fleas" and evidence.
Treat the animal through a veterinarian, not only the house. Environmental treatment with an untreated host in the building is a cycle that does not close.
Vacuum daily, thoroughly, especially where the animal sleeps and along skirting. Empty the canister or bag outside each time.
Wash bedding hot — the animal's and yours.
Write it down if you rent. The date you first noticed it, the date you reported it, and the condition after each treatment. Under § 55.1-1227 delay in reporting shifts added cost to you.
Do not throw out furniture yet. It is evidence, and disposal spreads the problem.
What this means for you specifically
If you rent and the lease says pests are yours
The clause exists. After Parrish v. Vance it does not by itself defeat a habitability claim.
Your action: send written notice today regardless of what the lease says, and keep the copy. Your own duties under § 55.1-1227 still apply — report promptly, and keep your space in order, because delay and fault do shift cost.
If the landlord has treated and they came back
This is the fact pattern of the case, and the pupal stage means it is the normal course of a flea job rather than proof of anything by itself.
Your action: get a written report from a licensed operator describing the current condition and, if they will say so, whether the previous treatment was adequate for fleas specifically — a single visit with no follow-up rarely is. That document is the difference between an assertion and evidence.
If you just moved in and found them
This was the timing in Parrish v. Vance: reported on the day possession transferred.
Your action: document and report today. Where a unit was uninhabitable at the start of a tenancy there is a much shorter and stronger route, with a seven-day window. Ending a lease over an infestation →
If you own and live in the home
The animal and the environment are one job, and it is not finished in one visit.
Your action: agree the schedule before you agree the price. Ask how many visits are included and what triggers a return at no charge.
If you are a landlord
Sending someone once is not the same as resolving it, and with fleas the difference is predictable rather than bad luck.
Your action: plan for the cycle, document each visit and the condition after it, and give the 48-hour written notice under § 55.1-1223 before any application unless the tenant requested it. What you owe →
Before you call: what costs what
An inspection and a treatment are two separate services with separate prices, and with fleas the number of visits matters more than the price of one.
| Typical Virginia range | What it produces | |
|---|---|---|
| General pest inspection | often free where the company expects to quote treatment | a verbal or written assessment |
| Flea treatment | quoted per property; usually more than one visit | a treatment record |
| Written report for a landlord or a court | charged separately | a document, not a price |
| Veterinary treatment of the animal | separate, and not optional | the host cleared |
What is usually free: a quote once a company has seen the property.
What is usually not: a written report describing the condition, which is exactly what a tenant's assertion or a repair-and-deduct claim needs.
Ask which applies before you book, and ask how many visits the quoted price includes.
Common misunderstandings
"No pet, so it can't be fleas." Pupae persist between occupants. A flea problem in a petless home is usually inherited.
"One treatment should do it." The pupal stage is resistant and waits. A single visit treats a fraction of the population.
"They came back, so the company failed." Possibly, or possibly the plan was one visit when the life cycle needs several. The record is what distinguishes them.
"The lease says pests are mine, so I have no options." A clause purporting to waive statutory rights is unenforceable after Parrish v. Vance.
"The landlord is now responsible for everything." The decision addresses waiver. It does not remove tenant duties under § 55.1-1227.
"Flea bombs work." Foggers rarely reach where larvae and pupae are — under furniture, deep in carpet, along skirting — and they can drive fleas further into voids.
What to ask a pest control company
- Under what name is your Virginia pesticide business licence held?
- How many visits does this price include, and how far apart?
- Does the plan account for the pupal stage, and what should I be doing between visits?
- Will you provide a written report describing the condition, separate from the invoice?
- If the property has been treated before, does that treatment appear adequate for fleas?
- Can you estimate how long this infestation has been established?
The last two are the ones that matter if the question of who pays is going anywhere formal.
What to have ready before you call
Whether there is an animal in the home and whether it is treated, when you first noticed bites or fleas, the date of any written notice if you rent, the flooring type in the affected rooms, how many treatments have already happened and when, and whether anything has been thrown out.
Frequently asked questions
How long can fleas survive without a host? Adults not long; pupae considerably longer, waiting in a protected stage until a host signal arrives. That is why a vacant property can produce a sudden infestation on move-in.
Do fleas live on people? They bite people but do not sustain a population on us. The animal, or the environment, is where they live.
Are flea bites dangerous? Usually an irritation. Scratching to the point of infection is the common complication; some people react strongly, and fleas can carry other organisms.
Does the 2024 decision apply to fleas only? The facts involved fleas. The holding concerns waiver of statutory rights and the warranty of habitability, and is not limited to one species.
Can my landlord charge me because I have a cat? Under § 55.1-1227 the cost of treatment caused by the tenant's fault falls on the tenant. Whether keeping a permitted pet amounts to fault is a question of evidence, not an obvious answer. When the tenant pays →
Verify before you pay anyone
VDACS publishes an updated list of licensed pesticide businesses weekly, with a public lookup confirming an active Pesticide Business License. General pest control is category 7a under 2VAC5-685-70.
Ask which name the licence is held under. If you intend to deduct the cost from rent under § 55.1-1244.1, the receipt has to let anyone match the company to the registry. How to check →