Question by brandlet:
Bedbugs, landlords, and tenants. What do you think?
Bedbugs are a human parasite. Unlike roaches, they cannot survive on their own without humans near them. They are carried into buildings only by humans, hiding in their clothes, luggage, pets, and other personal belongings. Bedbugs can never enter buildings on their own. In this regard, bedbugs are similar to lice, carried only by people. Bedbugs cannot fly and do not crawl more than a few feet away from beds. 1% of bedbug infestations are spread by crawling through walls while 99% are spread by hiding and hitching a ride in people’s cloths.
Tenants are responsible to make sure that they, and their guests, do not bring bedbugs into their apartment. If you visit an infested apartment, or if an infested guest visits your apartment, don’t be surprised and don’t complain when you find bedbugs. They did not crawl in on their own. You or your guest carried them in. Landlords can maintain the building structure free of building infestations. Landlords cannot check people’s clothes and cannot deal with tenants’ human infestations. Landlords have no responsibility keeping tenants free of lice either, even if a tenant gets them from her neighbor. Tenants have to keep their own personal belongings clean, and keep carpets floors and surfaces clean.
Tenants: Get your items sprayed after you throw away every infested mattress and box spring; enclose every remaining mattress and box spring in a specially designed cover; and wash all clothes. If you don’t, the spraying will not help. Almost all of the bedbugs hide in mattresses and clothes – if not cleaned, they will later come out again. Keep all clothes away from floors, beds, and couches. After you did your part and cleaned and vacuumed the floor, your landlord can spray the floor and the walls.
If an exterminator is hired, the tenant pays for dealing with the tenant’s personal belongings and the landlord pays for floors and walls.
This question is intended to solicit opinions on who should be responsible for what. It is easy for tenants to say it’s the landlords responsibility, even when the tenants are the ones who bring in these little pests. Are tenants always to blame? are landlords always to blame? who should pay for what?
Another point: Is it legal for a city to put all the blame and responsibility on landlords (like NYC does) ? Can a city force a landlord to clean his tenants’ beds and clothing?
Best answer:
Answer by DOT
um… your question? and the point being?
What do you think? Answer below.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Dear brandlett,
Are you asking us who should pay for bedbug extermination? Your question isn’t clear to me. But you provide a lot of interesting information about bed bugs here, brandlett, so thank you for that.
I’ve read quite a bit about bedbugs because 2 of my 3 children live in NYC where bedbugs have become a major problem. Neither of my children has bedbugs in their apartments but they worry about them a lot, and they’re cautious; they won’t buy used upholstered furniture for one thing.
I have read that, although it’s very rare, in extreme cases of bedbug infestation the bedbugs can overflow into a neighboring apartment–although who’s to know, really, if a neighbor didn’t drop by and bring them in that way.
But you’re right, brandlett–the landlord’s not to blame. He just needs to make sure he calls in an exterminator between tenants so new people moving in won’t become infested.
One other thing–they sell special little dishes online, sets of 4, that you can put under the feet of your bed. You fill these dishes with water. That way the bedbugs can’t crawl up the bed legs from the floor and get in your bed because the water drowns them.