A couple selling a New York City apartment had bed bugs six months ago. They have not noticed any problem since. So the question is, do they need to disclose that the property they’re selling had bed bugs recently?

Jay Romano answers that the Property Condition Disclosure Act–requiring a seller to fill out a detailed disclosure statement–doesn’t apply to co-op or condo sales.  (Romano consulted Edward I. Sumber, a White Plains lawyer.)

What does apply to apartment owners, however, is common law, which has been established through judicial rulings over the centuries. “Under the doctrine of caveat emptor — let the buyer beware — the seller has no affirmative obligation to reveal circumstances about the apartment to the buyer,” Mr. Sumber said.

But he added that if a prospective buyer asks a specific question about whether the apartment has had bedbugs, the seller has an obligation to answer honestly.

The lesson is if you are buying a NYC condo or co-op, ask if it has or ever had bed bugs.

And, your broker may also be liable:

In addition, if the real estate broker knows about the bedbug problem, he or she has an obligation to reveal it to a prospective buyer. “The broker is under an affirmative duty to be diligent,” Mr. Sumber said. “But the seller is not required to tell the broker, either.”

House buyers are afforded more protection. Sellers of houses have to answer a 48-question disclosure statement and give it to the buyer.

One of the questions asks whether there has been any pest infestation in the house.

But non-scrupulous house sellers need only take a $500 hit to avoid this kind of disclosure:

The penalty for failing to provide the form is a $500 credit to the buyer.

Sellers, apparently, can simply take the loss and skip disclosure. That’s bad news.

All in all, it appears that people can get around disclosing they have had bed bugs in their home (even, apparently, if the infestation is more recent or active) whether it’s an apartment or house. This is very bad news.

Bedbugger hopes that everyone selling a home will be responsible and make sure they are bed bug-free before selling. We also hope apartment and house buyers will have homes professionally inspected, perhaps with the aid of both a PCO and a bed bug dog, before purchase.

You can read Romano’s full article in the New York Times (1/20/08) here. 

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• Bed bugs and marketing (again)
• The bed bug droppings hit the fan
• Ask your bed bug questions / share your tales of bed bug woe here

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• Use bed bug registries and warn others about infested buildings and hotels!
• Bed bugs invade Chicago’s Presidential Towers, and another Vancouver Island detox
• Forget black mattress stains, bed bugs, shells, and eggs: NMPA press release tells consumers to look for “blood spots”
• Brown student wants to provide free bed bug treatment to those who can’t pay

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I am astonished to find that, not even three months later, a second “The Hunt” column results in a bedbugged apartment. In this case, a young couple (Jon Werberg and Helene Mattera) moved into a semi-gut-renovated apartment on East 117th Street, only to find various troubles, including the elusive cimex lectularius, Mr. Bed Bug.

When the two arrived in late summer, the workers weren’t quite finished. “The hassles started right from the beginning,” Mr. Werberg said. They included sporadic hot water, trash in the hallways, rats and — worst of all — bedbugs. The couple spent hundreds of dollars on laundry. They now wish they had thought harder about building maintenance and general cleanliness.

Although bed bugs can often accompany poor building maintenance and hygiene problems, there is no relation between them, and it’s important to keep this in mind.

Ms. Mattera continues,

“My favorite thing about the apartment is the fact that two of my good friends live within minutes,” Ms. Mattera said. “That is the greatest thing, just calling them and saying, ‘I’ll meet you downstairs.’”

Which is fine, if the bed bugs are gone. If they’re not, it kind of takes all the fun out of the apartment.

It does make you wonder, if the New York Times can follow two couples in an apartment search leading to bed bugs, twice in twelve weeks, how many people in NYC are moving into bedbugged digs?

We know bed bugs in NYC are spreading like wildfire.

Maybe the New York Times should spend some time investigating how far bed bugs have truly spread, and how common they now are. Besides the two “The Hunt” columns, and an op ed, the paper last covered bed bugs in October 2006, using the city’s data on bed bug violations from the summer of 2006 (only those cases reported to 311 and declared “bed bugs” by city inspectors). It’s time to challenge the relevance of data that relies on people calling the city’s information hotline to report a pest most only call their landlords or a PCO about. It’s time for real  data.

You can read all about this failed “Hunt” and weep, here.

• Bed bugs: now appearing in news articles which are not about bed bugs
• Washington Post prints correction thanks to bed bug activist
• Fox employee suing building management, maintenance over bed bug bites
• How bad are bed bugs in Toronto? Nobody knows for sure.

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UPPER WEST SIDE—It seems there is a little detail about the condo conversion at 30 Lincoln Plaza that may have been overlooked: “You failed to mention that the building is infested with bed bugs…the management has confirmed this and is handing out pamphlets and they have even had a bedbug sniffing dog in some apartments..who knew! I would think this situation is going to really boost sales on those $1,185,000 647 sq/ft one bedrooms.” Bedbug sniffing dogs?!? Excellent. [CurbedWire Inbox]

While it’s always surprising to find out another building has bed bugs, it’s a good thing that the building management is aware and is taking action. I hope they undertake aggressive treatment throughout. (Imagine, hypothetically, the legal activity that would ensue if some units were infested but did not identify the presence of pests, were not treated, and were sold infested.)

This item from Curbed.com reminds me that a lot of the interesting bed bug “news” in the last four days has been leaked via gossip blogs: legal gossip, real estate gossip, ivy league college gossip (although this one probably had another itchy culprit).

Unlike “real” news–which is covered in the newspapers, and on TV and radio–like the spread of MRSA drug-resistant staph bacteria, which tragically killed a 7th grader in Brooklyn, bed bugs aren’t yet confirmed to cause disease and death. They have been unofficially confirmed to cause distress, stress, anxiety, sleeping trouble–and in rare cases, allergic reactions so severe they can kill. But nothing compared with the threat of deadly MRSA. I saw an ABC news segment here in NYC Friday night–kids at the school that youngster attended, were carrying bottles of purell, and startled parents and teachers were looking on in amazement as they reported washing their hands after using the lavatory (ABC7 produced multiple clips in which the students admitted this was new behavior.) The segment also featured a poster on the door of the school, and though it was not shown close-up, I am pretty certain it warned that the school had been exposed to MRSA and that people had to take precautions not to catch it.

Since bed bugs aren’t on the same level of threat, the reasoning seems to go, we don’t need to actually warn people about bed bugs in specific locations. And so “bed bug reports” are confined to the realm of gossip blogs.

Yes, it is true that hotels, real estate developers and brokers, restaurants, theaters and other businesses that are reported to have bed bugs in the mainstream media, will face worried customers and may lose business. The hotel industry in NYC, in particular, will be hard hit. One can only assume Mayor Bloomberg chooses to avoid confronting and admitting the true number of infested homes and businesses in this city (which I first considered in this post), because it would scare off tourists, who contribute so much to the city, as well as negatively affecting real estate, and maybe even how people spend their leisure time (and money).

But it does not follow that if we do not discuss bed bugs, publicly, then they will go away. The opposite is true: as long as businesses are in denial, or putting up a bed-bug-free front, the problem will keep spreading at an alarming rate, and eventually, I believe, the hit on businesses will be greater.

• Maya Rudolph’s former loft (again): bedbugs ADD value!
• Bed Bug Helloise is shocked…
• The strange case of bed bugs in Bushwick
• What means this *TIPPING POINT*?

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“Bed bugs,” said Diann Waters, bed bugs in home. “All over my baby.”

Diann Waters may tell her son, “don’t let the bed bugs bite” before he goes to sleep, but it looks like they did anyways.

“He done scratched them and stuff. They from bed bugs.”

Waters lives in Over-the-Rhine. Recently, she spotted insects on her furniture.

“First thing that came to my mind was that I got to get it out of my house,” said Waters. “I had to throw my furniture away. My daughter seen a bug and I figured that’s what it was, but it had eggs all the way around the lining of my furniture.”

Waters isn’t alone. Neighbors say a woman threw out a mattress and rug because it was infested.

Hopefully now the people of Cincinnati will be getting some real help. The article also hints about some of the alliances forming in the fight against bed bugs:

Carles Tassell is involved with an apartment association that’s joining forces with the city to form a task force to fight the pests.

“Bed bugs don’t care what race you are, how much money you make,” said Charles Tassell, Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Apartment Association. ” They care that you’re human. They are equal opportunity pests.”

I was curious about that group, so I googled them. Turns out, they are a trade association of apartment buiding owners and managers, and developers in the multi-family housing industry.

(Was that a pig with wings that just flew overhead?)

Yes, not only did the Cincinnati public health official declare bed bugs a public health issue, but the multi-family housing landlords’ trade group is signed on to fight bed bugs. While all this seems like a logical, obvious step, on the one hand, you have to recall that elsewhere in the country, Mayors are turning a blind eye to bed bugs and landlords are trying to discuss ways to avoid paying for treatment. Smart landlords will understand that beating bed bugs and halting their spread helps business. And turning a blind eye is disastrous.

Since this group is part of a national one for owners and developers of multi-unit dwellings, perhaps other cities may follow suit.

The news video suggests people tossing out bed bug-infested furniture put a sign on it. While it’s true that this can help, it is not as effective as destroying the item. Taking a box-cutter and slashing sofas and mattresses, is one way to make sure no one uses the item. If you are tossing out a piece of furniture like a dresser or desk, Bedbugger S. suggested removing one part to the garbage pile at a time, until each piece is carted off. (So people will find, for example, a table leg, rather than a useful table.) This will work if you are not trying to get rid of items all in one day.

But remember: though articles and videos like this portray it as the normal response to bed bugs, tossing things out is not usually a great solution: in most cases, it won’t get rid of bed bugs, and it also spreads them to your neighbors, meaning they come back. Instead, a good PCO can treat most furniture along with your home, and they’ll tell you if “tossing out” is needed, and how to do it safely.

The video also mentions that in addition to a furniture pickup hotline for infested refuse, the city is working on a system of “citations” for landlords who won’t treat the problem. Click to watch.

• This is bad: bed bugs crawling everywhere. Video at 11.
• Dayton and Middletown, Ohio: avoiding bed bugs is difficult
• Cincinnati Establishes Bed Bug Furniture Pick-Up Procedures and Hotline
• Cincinnati fights bed bugs, declares some success

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Information on how to spot bed bugs, the need to follow prep instructions to a T, and the need to report bed bugs promptly — and perhaps a reminder, if it’s relevant, that the landlord is responsible for payment — would all be useful in many cases.

Thanks to Bedbugger Kurt for alerting us to this photo.

• Bed bugs in Ventura County (Thousand Oaks, California)
• Marty Markowitz’s building has bed bugs
• New York City: Who’s responsible for paying for bed bug treatment? Complicated, in some cases.
• bed bugs in the media: the Today Show, Tuesday morning

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I’m wondering if there’s a legal duty for landlords to report an
infestation to potential tenants?

Dear Reader,

Local laws almost always specify the types of homes landlords are expected to provide (in good repair, free of pests, etc.) and so landlords are almost always required to provide a home without bed bugs, and to remove them when they appear. (We’ve outlined some of the local North American laws here.)

I am not a lawyer, but I’d consult one in this instance. For the record, I am also not enthusiastic about lawsuits for their own sake, but I do think something needs to be done as far as setting a precedent where not telling tenants about bed bugs gets a landlord in big trouble.

If you think that your landlord knew the residence was infested before it was rented, especially if they never treated it for bed bugs, you might have a case.

• landlords talking about bed bugs
• New York City: Who’s responsible for paying for bed bug treatment? Complicated, in some cases.
• More on Canada’s laws re: bed bugs and tenants: province by province
• added to the “Tenants and Landlords FAQ”: Washington, D.C. and Florida

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Why the fear? Well, one reason people have mentioned many times in the blog’s comments is that in many cities, landlords “blacklist” tenants. Although “we’re not supposed to know about it,” and its often illegal, landlords in some places can allegedly check a list to see which tenants have complained to the housing board, taken landlords to court, filed violations, or just been “a pain” generally.

Up until now, as people have escaped from bad bed bug apartments, often at great cost, their only way of warning future tenants was to post their infested address on Bed Bug City, or Bed Bug Registry, two sites that register bed bug infested rental apartments, and hotels.

Those sites are very useful and people should report their addresses to both sites. Why? Well, I saw a building next to my friend’s apartment on one site, and the building on the other side of hers on the other. Neither site was telling the whole story. And the sites are full of reports of adjacent or nearby addresses, a reminder of just how common it is for people to pick up infested stuff on the curb, and take it home. But I digress.

Now there’s another option for tenants. The playing field may be slightly leveled by apartment ratings websites, which allow users to post reviews of apartments.

Here’s an example: myhood.ca. Here, Toronto tenants can complain of problems in the properties they’ve rented, warning other tenants.

I looked at the Bed Bug Registry and found a reported address in Toronto: 321 Sherbourne St., Toronto, where someone reported having bed bugs as of 1/15/2007. (Remember, these reports are not checked, so this is just an allegation as far as we’re concerned.) Meanwhile, two apartments in this building were listed at myhood.ca (a 1BR and a 2BR). Neither had any reviews at the time of this writing.

Another example: mega-apartment complex Presidential Towers (where this Bedbugger lived for a few months, 9 years ago!) in Chicago, the focus of several bed bug lawsuits. Look at the listings on ApartmentRatings.com. Marvel at the many negative bed bug reviews, and the entry for 4/4/07, who actually had bed bugs in their unit and wants to get back in (not allergic, I guess?)

On the Bed Bug Registry, meanwhile, there’s one entry for Presidential Towers (aka 555 W. Madison, Chicago), here. Again, these are just allegations, though in this case, supported by lawsuits.

The bottom line is that these listings are not foolproof and they’re not verified (though it can be said that if landlords have a blacklist, that’s not verified either.) Tenants are consumers and renting an apartment is one of the costliest decisions one can make–especially if the hidden costs include not just “first, last, and security,” but a course of 5 bed bug treatments, or even paying money to move to a new apartment and throwing out a lot of stuff.

It would be much better if we could get away from the blame game. If bed bugs were treated like an environmental and public health problem, rather than a shameful secret tenants and landlords try to hide from one another, we’d all be better off.

The government could require PCOs to register all locations receiving treatment, and could assist those unable to pay (just as they do in other public crises, like mudslides, floods, and tornados.) It may sound extreme to treat bed bugs like a natural disaster, but the truth is, if they were addressed as such, they could be brought under greater control. Instead, they’re spreading.

And while landlords and hotels would no doubt balk at an official registry, there would be a lot less shame when everyone saw just how widespread things had become.

• Use bed bug registries and warn others about infested buildings and hotels!
• bed bug registries
• bedbugregistry.com is working now: report your bed bug infestations!
• The strange case of bed bugs in Bushwick

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Entomologists including Michael Potter of the University of Kentucky helped those in attendance understand how those with bed bugs feel most violated in the part of their homes they go to to get away from life’s stresses. The lectures also included information on treatment, and what it entails (not just spraying, but also including integrated pest management):

BASF’s Hickman spoke more in-depth about products used to control bed bugs. Hickman noted that bed bug treatments require a combination of non-chemical solutions (including exclusion, vacuuming, steaming and thermal eradication) as well as chemical solutions. Hickman said that today’s pesticides are not a “silver bullet,” and that each has advantages and disadvantages, which is why he recommended using a variety of pesticides.

Most interesting to me, however, was the talk by lawyer Kevin Brewer, and entomologist Susan Jones, who answered the question for landlords of whether tenants are at fault:

One of the interesting discussions that occurred during his presentation revolved around whether the tenant (to whom the source of the infestation was traced) is really at fault. After all, unlike pests such as cockroaches and ants, bed bugs spread because they are hitchhikers — not because of sanitation issues.

“The previous talks stressed that these pests are hitchhikers — they can occur in busses, in movie theaters and even in this room,” said Susan Jones, Ohio State University Entomology Professor. “All this emphasis on finding the source and this accusatory tone that this person is responsible for the infestation, I take issue with.”

Brewer responded that, “As a landlord you have a piece of property that was not infested and somehow bed bugs were brought there. Why would the landlord have to pay the expenses for eradicating those bed bugs when they did nothing wrong?”

To which Jones responded, “And the person that brought them in did something wrong?”

The inappropriateness blaming an afflicted tenant is probably the most important thing landlords and apartment managers need to learn about bed bugs. We Bedbuggers know that many people do not appear to react to bed bugs (or perhaps are not bitten even when they have them), and this fact alone means it’s usually impossible to be sure of the source of a bed bug infestation. The person complaining may think they brought them in, and the landlord might think so too. But it often turns out that someone else had them and did not notice or did not say.

But the bottom line, when it comes to the Blame Game, is that if you blame people who report bed bugs, they might not report them–putting up with them, or self-treating–until someone else is afflicted and comes forward, the apparent “cause.” This is a dangerous situation, because in the meantime, bed bugs have spread throughout your building, causing you infinitely more money and taking more time and effort to eradicate. Not smart business, from a landlord’s perspective.

With bed bugs, it’s clear that education is a big part of the battle. Check out the article from PCTOnline.

• Halifax tenants angry about bed bugs? Time for action.
• Halifax: where the bed bug “blame game” is the law
• Shameful landlord AIMCO: biggest landlord in USA refuses to deal with bed bugs
• Another suit at Presidential Towers: this one focuses on landlord’s non-disclosure of neighbor’s bed bugs

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Furniture Rental

Customer of Aaron Rents (they rented an infested living room suite) 2007

Summer Camp

Family sues YMCA Camp Storer claiming kid brought bed bugs home from camp 2008

Hotel guests

Winnipeg Howard Johnson’s motel sued by Toronto resident, Steven Lipson April 2008

Milford Plaza, NYC hotel guest sues hotel and hotel’s PCO for negligence, in progress, March 2008 (punitive damages dropped); Bedbugger and New York Law Journal

Ohio Hilton guest, 2007

Guest of Roger Smith Hotel, NYC, 2007

Siloam Springs (bed bugs in motel caused nightmares) 2007

NYC Opera Soprano at the Phoenix Hilton Suites 2006

Mandarin Oriental, London here and here and here. 2006

Barona Resort and Casino (Robert and Gloria Chisley suing for bed bug bites at resort; 2005, still pending as of 2008)

BURL MATHIAS and DESIREE MATHIAS, v. ACCOR ECONOMY LODGING, INC. and MOTEL 6 OPERATING L.P. (2003)

Tenants

Presidential Towers in Chicago here and here and here. 2007

Maya Rudolph’s case: press is here. 2007

Six tenants vs. AIMCO 2007

Brooklyn tenant sues 2007

Peter H. Young (Ludlow Street, NYC)

See also:

Landlords talking about bed bugs and How to Avoid a Bed Bug Lawsuit (for lawyers)

Hotel lawyers talking about bed bugs here and here and here.

Your rights as a tenant and how to organize.

This won’t ever be comprehensive, but there are obvious gaps, so feel free to post comments below with additional links I might add.

Can you help me find a lawyer?

No, sorry. We are not a legal service, we’re not lawyers, and we haven’t sued.

• another bedbug lawsuit
• Winnipeg HoJo gets sued over bed bugs
• Bitten by bed bugs: NYC Opera Soprano suing Hilton Suites in Phoenix
• another Lawsuit: student bitten in Fordham’s satellite dorms @ The New Yorker Hotel

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