Bed Bugs

Maintenance

Morning, I've got a tenant in a house who has recently got an infestation of bed bugs. I let the house through the council on their Private Rented Sector Letting scheme and the council pay me direct. The tenant (and her young child) moved in almost one year ago, so it's obvious that these bugs weren't present when she moved in (the house is also let unfurnished, the council provided her with her beds / furniture etc). After research, it appears that bed bugs are brought into a house by either people (in backpacks etc), or furniture. The tenant is expecting me to arrange and pay for a specialist pest control company to get rid of these bugs, but I don't see how this is my responsibility? To be fair, she is a good tenant but I don't see why I should get lumbered with a bill for a couple of hundred quid for something that isn't my doing?