Question by Miss:
My rights as a renter in Scranton PA regarding bedbugs?
I live in an 2 story apartment and I have noticed that there are bed bugs on my walls, furniture, beds, floor, carpet. Every morning I wake up with atleast 15 new bites somewhere. Who can I call to exterminate and do I have to pay, or does my landlord?
Best answer:
Answer by dody2908
How does your lease address this issue. I hope you get some relief as these critters have a bad reputation. You’d think your landlord would have to pay, but the whole building would need to be bombed by an exterminator.
There was something on NPR last week about a lady and her husband in New York City who faced this same problem, I cannot remember the reporter’s name.
Somebody somewhere needs to work on a way to get these terrible pests to just leave and live in the woods (not my woods). They’re said to be worse than cockroaches.
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Bedbugs are generally considered a tenant responsibility, since they are generally introduced to the property by the tenant. I am guessing that what you are seeing on the walls aren’t bedbugs. They are secretive little creatures and hide in areas where they aren’t visible, such as in bedding. As well, bedbugs do not normally travel from unit to unit without hitching a ride on a human host.
There are products on the market you can use to kill the bugs, but it takes work and some repeated efforts to totally eradicate them.
Acermill is rite,the bugs that you are seeing on the walls are not bedbugs.Bedbugs will live within the area of the bed,in the bedding in the seams of the mattress,clothes on the floor that are near the mattress.The reason I no this is because I’m a L.L.& just went thru this very problem with tenants of mine.What we ended up doing was wrapping the mattress with plastic[after a serious spraying of insecticide],then the tenants had to wash all their belonging plus I rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned all the carpets in the apt.I believe we got the little buggers because the two yr.old that was getting bit isn’t having any more problems[thank God].
Good Luck
Contact your landlord as soon as possible. Many apartment complexes have a contract with a pest control company that visits the property regularly. Your landlord should be able to send someone over from maintenance and determine what needs to be done. Find out if they will pay for an exterminator or if you need to.