Comments on: Bed bugs: what’s really working?

By: OnceBitten

OnceBitten — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:07:14 +0000

As the President of an HOA in Northern VA, I can tell you that we found bed bugs in 16 of our 25 buildings (so far). In one, all but 2 condos needed to be treated. Once bed bugs establish themselves, they travel quickly through the walls. We (I) printed out and sent alerts to EVERYONE in the Association. Education is POWER. Our manager got lots of calls from people who had been living with bed bugs for months, unwilling to admit they had a problem! Once they heard that someone else had a problem, they were very free with the info. People were coming into the office and showing their bites — the staff was pretty freaked out by it. We did not experience an exodus of tenants and homeowners. I think they appreciated our aggressive stance on the problem. We treated the entire building — whether or not the unit showed infestation. The homeowners paid the $200 (a bargain price in our area) for treatment that involved 3 visits. So I encourage you — even if the management can’t post notices — YOU can!!! That’s what I did. Management said they’d have to look into the legality of posting a notice. I had notices of my own up the very next day. Management can make that call when they SLEEP with the bed bugs.

By: hopelessnomo

hopelessnomo — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:49:44 +0000

Part 2 of this article series is now available online and it’s quite the read.

By: Gypsy

Gypsy — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:25:30 +0000

Alberta has laws too. I phoned my PCO today to retrieve information my manager neglected to leave for me (how bad the infestation was, what to do for second round of treatment).

They said by law, they are not allowed to reveal information. Then they said to contact my manager, who originally told me to call the PCO in the first place. No one seems to want to take responsibility. Given the one suite that is next to me is under construction, I doubt the other suites next to me have been properly prepared for treatment.

By: parakeets

parakeets — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:41:15 +0000

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting. I would add to the list that if treating a multi-unit building, it is important for the PCO to stress to the person hiring him (landlord or management company, for example) the need for building-wide disclosure and education.

The common practice when a unit in a multi-unit is being treated for bedbugs is to treat adjacent units but don’t even disclose to them (let alone the rest of the building) that the problem is bedbugs. I know this. I’m in such a building.

As far as I know, only San Francisco has laws about disclosure. If it isn’t something landlords have to do, they might not, so it is imperative that the PCO teaches this. Of course if a landlord doesn’t want to tell other tenants (they might move out or freak out), then he might not want to hire a PCO firm that wants him to do that.