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Bedbugs

Posted By: Cheryl
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 10:21 am

Bedbugs

GA Uncategorized

I live in an apartment that has bedbugs.  It’s not a severe case but I have them nonetheless.  I’ve tried bombing the place with a bedbug bomber, but that didn’t work.  So I notified by landlord about them.  Now they’re making me pay $250 to have an exterminator come.  I have to basically bag up and move my whole apartment to prepare for the exterminator.  I’ve told the landlord it’s not a severe case, but she said that when I was inspected by the exterminator, they told her it was almost catastrophic.  I feel they’re just doing this to get money out of me… money I don’t have. We don’t have bites on us.. we occasionally see one on the wall but it’s nothing major. I’ve told the landlord I don’t want to do their treatment, since I don’t feel it’s bad and I really just don’t have the money, but now they’re forcing me to do it saying it’s a health risk.  I have a very basic lease agreement, there’s nothing in there about bedbugs. And we’ve been treating them on our own but the landlord told me to stop treating myself and let the exterminator handle it.    I guess I just want to know what my rights are.  I live in Virginia and have been unable to find any information on renters rights regarding bedbugs.  Do I have to do their treatment now?  Or can I refuse?  Is it my responsibility to pay for this?  If I break the lease agreement and just move, can they still expect me to pay for their bedbug treatment?  Any help would be much appreciated.

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One Response to “Bedbugs”


Landlord

Randal

June 28th, 2010 2:35 am

Cheryl,
Your BedBug infestation is probably quite severe.  The fact that you’ve seen them crawling on your wall indicates a large problem.  Bedbugs in nature are very elusive and rarely spotted.  Not to scare you, but I promise you that you are being bitten by bedbugs every night.  (Probably dozens of times, if not hundreds)  You see, you are lucky because only 50% of people are allergic to bedbugs.  What that means is that you are being bitten, but because you are not allergic to the saliva or anticolagunt you do not show the red itchy spots that the other 50% of people do.
I mention this as I noticed your comment states that you you have a minor problem with bedbugs.  When in reality, if you have bedbugs– its never minor!   I would not agree to pay the $250 unless you can get management to sign a document stating that you will not be held to any further cost associated with bedbug treatment.   I mention this because if they are hiring an exterminator for just $250, it means they are using a non-effective chemical treatment.  Havard University did a study on chemical treatments and was able to prove that the chemical sprays are only effective on adult bedbugs and do not kill eggs, further they were able to find that after multiple treatments the bedbugs became resistant to chemical treatments.
I can understand your concern about paying for the treatment, in fact that responsibility may not be yours at all.  Honestly, I don’t know the legalities behind whether you can be held responsible for bedbug treatment or not– I do know a ton about the little critters, just no the legal stuff.  

Hope that helps,
 
 
 



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