RPA Tenant Rights Blog » Bed Bugs

Apartment has bed bug

Erin — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 04:24:08 +0000

I moved into an apartment in Boston one month ago. About a week and a half ago, I found a bed bug after experiencing several bites all over my body. I contacted our onsite management contact, and he told me that the two apartments below us have had a bed bug problem for several months. They treated our apartment once (they claim they did this preventatively) before we moved in, and we have obtained a document proving this treatment. However, even though Boston Housing dictates that they should be treating all adjacent units to the effected united, the management company has not been doing so all along. I did NOT have bed bugs/have never had them before nor had I been traveling – I’m positive I got them in this building. I have had to spend several hundred dollars on mattress covers, a new vacuum (mine didn’t have a bag, but you need a vacuum with a bag to treat bed bugs), dry cleaning, laundry, etc. I am covered in bites, cannot sleep, have nightmares when I’m sleeping elsewhere. They have exterminated once, and I’m trying to cooperate with the management but they are not returning my calls. The people in the other units say, despite extermination every few weeks, they still have bites everywhere. Because this was known to be an issue before I signed the lease (and I have proof) and it’s effecting my health, can I terminate the lease? Is this a form of constructive eviction? Any advice would be wonderful – I am dying to get out of this living situation.

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Bed Bugs – Grounds for terminating a lease ?

Tenant — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 12:50:40 +0000

I moved into an apartment in Boston one month ago. About a week and a half ago, I found a bed bug after experiencing several bites all over my body. I contacted our onsite management contact, and he told me that the two apartments below us have had a bed bug problem for several months. They treated our apartment once (they claim they did this preventatively) before we moved in, and we have obtained a document proving this treatment. However, even though Boston Housing dictates that they should be treating all adjacent units to the effected united, the management company has not been doing so all along. I did NOT have bed bugs/have never had them before nor had I been traveling – I’m positive I got them in this building. I have had to spend several hundred dollars on mattress covers, a new vacuum (mine didn’t have a bag, but you need a vacuum with a bag to treat bed bugs), dry cleaning, laundry, etc. I am covered in bites, cannot sleep, have nightmares when I’m sleeping elsewhere. They have exterminated once, and I’m trying to cooperate with the management but they are not returning my calls. The people in the other units say, despite extermination every few weeks, they still have bites everywhere. Because this was known to be an issue before I signed the lease (and I have proof) and it’s effecting my health, can I terminating a lease ? Is this a form of constructive eviction? Any advice would be wonderful – I am dying to get out of this living situation.

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Tenants rights bed bugs

Paul — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 05:34:36 +0000

I am about 3 months into a 2 year lease and found bed bugs about a month and a half ago at the condo I’m renting. The owner claims that the bed bugs were not there before we came, but we did not have bed bugs before we moved in so I think its difficult if not impossible to prove if:a) We brought the bugs there b) The bugs were there alreadyc) The bugs arrived after we got thereSince I have a friend in the pest control industry I decided not to bother the land lord right away and just try to deal with the problem myself. Here is what we have personally done over the past month to get rid of the bed bugs:1) Sprayed the entire house 3 separate times. The cost of the chemicals at wholesale price was $70. Besides the cost spraying for bed bugs is time consuming and my wife developed an allergic reaction to the spray for which she needed to go to the doctor.2) Threw away our two year old mattress. It will probably cost $700-$900 to replace and we’ve been sleeping on an air mattress for the past month. We will continue to sleep on an uncomfortable air mattress until our lives are bed bug free.3) Laundered all our clothing and bedding twice. I estimate that this has cost us about $70.4) Sprayed bed bug foggers from Home Depot twice. Cost for foggers: $60.In summary we’ve spent a substantial amount of time and about $200 + the cost of a new mattress to deal with these pests on our own and they are still around. My two questions are:1) What legal rights do I have to request that my Landlord take care of the problem? Is it his responsibility or mine? I don’t plan on trying to charge him for the work/money I have already spent but it is obvious to me that this is a problem that needs the help of a professional pest control agent that specializes in bed bugs. 2) If my landlord does not or cannot rectify the bed bug problem am I entitled to break the lease without penalty?Thanks for any advice you might have. Paul

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Bed bug infested furniture

Sleepy — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 01:03:57 +0000

I live in a senior building. Some to the tenants are disable. Some of my neighbors had a bed bug infestation and one of the couple was disabled. In the mean time the management informed the that they had to throw the furniture away which they did.

The couple threw away everything. The other neighbor threw her furniture away and replaced some of it. The landloard told her she had to throw her furniture again after they had treated it.

Now both of the neighbors were evicted.

Do they have any recourse, to get there furniture replace etc?

Thank you,
Concerned

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Pest Control?

Greg — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 05:31:07 +0000

I had to get treatment for bed bugs in my apartment. The apartment complex informed us that the cost for this service would be $450. They stated that the cost for this service was stated in our lease. I have not had a chance to look at the lease at this time so I have not confirmed this. We pay for pest control every month. There is no proof that we brought the bed bugs into the apartment. We have never had bed bugs and lived there for 12 months before the bed bugs started to bite. They stated today of the cost and informed me and my wife that the payment arrangement needed o be decided by noon tomorrow. They did offer financing options of payment in increments over 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months. I want to know if I am liable for the charges rendered for this service as it seems to be building up-keep to maintain health and safety standards.

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Moderately devastated by bed bugs

Martin Flaherty — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 05:23:25 +0000

I have been a renter in this 6 story Manhattan building happily for 30 years. Considered a model tenant: clean, nonproblematic and always on time with rent, I was surprised when a 6-7 year female tenant on the 6th floor in May complained that she’d been invaded with bed bugs. The landlord gave a few treatments to her apartment but sometime later she reported that the bugs were still there and she had to leave the building permanently. I didn’t think much more about it until I experienced bedbugs myself in my 2nd floor apartment in July. An exterminator was hired and fired by the landlord for unbeknownst reasons. Then a 2nd exterminator came and helped prep my entire wardrobe, bedding etc, bagged everything and it was drycleaned and or hot dryered. My entire bedroom was disassembled, fabric wallcoverings stripped. There were three treatments plus a wall caulking. Everything was placed in large garbage bags. Unfortunately some bags contained valuable clothing etc and was thrown out with the trash. My laundry/dry cleaning bills plus purchase of new bed, mattress and replacement clothing comes to about $6000. However, the landlord bears no responsibility for damages or losses to the apartment’s contents—only for the extermination. Do I have just cause? Sincerely, Martin J Flaherty

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bed bug infestation

Melissa — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:10:26 +0000

Long story short I am disputing with my landlord on a bed bug infestation. Although they are covering the expenses for exterminating I have written confirmation from my landlord that my former neighbor complained of bed bugs as they moved out and she did nothing. Next my current neighbor claimed to have bed bugs and they did bring out a pest control company who said they saw evidence of previous infestation but no living evidence. Keeping that in mind my neighbor NEVER sleeps at his apartment and now I am infested. I feel the Landlords did not handle this properly as per the “good faith law” of Michigan to notify all neighboring tenants of the issue to be on the lookout. In fact they confirmed in writing that I should “keep my mouth shut” to my neighbors. I feel I am owed at least a refund of all expenses totaling $1400 to replace the bed. Those blood suckers can live for a year without feeding…….Any insight????

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bed bugs in apartments

Wren — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:56:45 +0000

Hi,
It seems that you have dealt with many bedbug issues. I am having a similar problem as many others. I was the main contact for a large house with 6 bedrooms. My boyfriend and I were the main names on the lease with agreement that we would rent out the other rooms to cover retn. One of my housemates discovered bed bugs in apartments on August 6th. After treating their own room out of pocket, we waited two weeks to find out if everything was in the clear. Then, we discovered them in my son’s room. On August 22, we emailed the landlord. The treatment did not happen until October 8th – 47 days later. I had to move the children out of the house, especially because they started school on Sept 5th. Everyone in the house paid for half o the costs of one treatment and the landlord paid half the other half of the cost. However, one room became vacant during this time as a lady decided to move out. When that happened, I spoke with my landlord over the phone and explained that I could not cover the full rent if the room was empty and that I was going to find a temporary rental until everything was taken care of. He verbally agreed to a rent reduction of $1000 out of $3000. I sent the rent check for $200 in Sept and Oct. Now, he is claiming that I owe him the $2000 after one room remained empty and I had to pay rent elsewhere. Let me know your thoughts.

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Bed bug solutions

anonymous — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 18:53:19 +0000

I am renting a house in San Jose and until recently have had a great relationship with my landlord who lives in another state. Recently upon my return from a week vacation, my neighbor comes by and says to me “thanks for letting us use the freezer in your cellar, we had a bed bug infestation and needed to freeze some items. We called your landlord since you were’nt home and he said we could bring the freezer out of the cellar and use it.”

They have since put the freezer back. Now my concerns are two-fold….first I’m petrified I’m going to get an infestation from their use of the freezer and secondly, no one notified me this was going on. As a matter a fact my landlord still has’nt mentioned it!

Should I get an infestation who’s liable? Can I get any kind of bed bug solutions?

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Bed Bugs – Landlord or Tenant Responsible??

Ilia — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:30:42 +0000

Under my “tenant agrees to” portion says that I will agree to:

To cooperate with Landlord in keeping unit free of rodents and other pests. To permit entry and spraying (or other measures required for pest control) by Landlord or pest control company.

Now here’s the situation. I called letting them know I found bed bugs a few weeks after newer tenants moved in and I didn’t have bed bugs before that. People got sent out (did a crap job because I’m still getting bit up) and I’m getting slammed with an almost $300 charge. I wasn’t told I’d have to pay and got no bill. Only way I found out about the charge was being told I owed them more money when I went and paid my rent. It says nowhere in my lease that I am responsible. When I asked about it, I got told that they pay for pest control but since it was about bed bugs and they “checked the other apartments and found nothing” (I didn’t see them go into any other place but mine) that the charge is my responsibility. If I had the money, I’d pay them to get them to shut up but I’m barely surviving month to month right now. Am I legally responsible for this? I live in Nebraska if that makes a difference in the laws.

Please help!

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