If the landlord/manager goes to Home Depot to buy pesticide, then they must post a sign of pesticide use. The exception if is a licensed pest control operator is used then no sign is needed! This law requires a landlord or the landlord’s authorized agent to provide a tenant, and, if certain conditions are met, any tenant of adjacent units, with a statutory notice of the use of pesticides at the dwelling unit if the landlord or authorized agent applies any pesticide without a licensed pest control operator. This law also requires the posting of a similar notice at least 24 hours prior to application of any pesticide to a common area without a licensed pest control operator, unless the pest poses an immediate threat to health and safety, in which case the notice would be required to be posted as soon as practicable, but not later than one hour after the pesticide is applied.
For routine application pursuant to a schedule in common areas without a licensed pest control operator, this law requires a notification to existing tenants prior to the initial routine application and to new tenants at the time that the lease agreement is entered into. “Adjacent units” are dwelling units that are directly beside, above, or below the subject dwelling unit. Tenants in adjacent units must be notified when the pesticide application is a “broadcast application” or when a total release fogger or aerosol spray is used, and any tenant in an adjacent dwelling unit could reasonably be impacted by the pesticide use. Again, this notification is required only when done by a landlord or agent without a licensed pest control operator. Senate Bill 328. Codified as Civil Code §1940.8.5. Effective date is January 1, 2016