Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Reader questions (do not fit into other categories)
Breaking a lease and suing a LL in NJ??
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mionina
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 5
Posted 1 month ago
Wed Oct 7 2009 11:51:50
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Hi Everyone.....
I have been dealing with Bed bugs since early August of this year, and they keep coming back ....to answer some of the questions concerning variables here is a brief "plot synopsis" of my situation.
I live in an apartment in Middlesex county, NJ...It's a multiple unit building, in an upscale rental community. I have to travel for my job very regularly, so I have always been mindful about checking my hotel room for anything shady(including BBs) as soon as I arrive. I started noticing some funny bug bites on me in the beginning of August, which made me uneasy because I have severe allergies, and Lupus on top of it....I walked around for a week covered in hives and welts that I thought were mosquito bites.
On the ninth I actually saw one on my living room sofa. I spend time in Manhattan regularly for work, so I was well aware of the problems in NYC and knew what they looked like. Naturally, I called my property manager's office as soon as this happened and I will give credit where credit is due, they did have their PCO out at my place the next day. I told management that I do travel for work regularly, but I am very careful when I do so. The problem is the PCO......I am not going to say that he is incompetent....He may very well be pretty good at what he does when it comes to other insects.......But these things keep coming back! I have not been neglectful....I know a few people that have worked in the hotel industry and have heard all of the horror stories(not to mention reading the ones here!) and knew that the problem had to be handled really aggressively, otherwise they would never go away. I have had to take a month off from work, and move in with my Godfather(I can't risk living there because of the other health issues, a lupus flare-up on top of all of this would suck) My LL sent the PCO out a few times...They claim it was four treatments, but I think it was only twice each time he spent about five minutes, tops....I have done everything possible to help get rid of them, and have even resorted to working and living at my godfather's house for the past two months...My boss doesn't want me bringing them into the building, and I can't blame him one bit.....I got two packtite units right away, and have been heat-treating everything I own non-stop that was able to be heated to 130 degrees since then. I have had my furniture all hauled away, and thermal treated by a reputable firm(the furniture, including properly encased mattresses and boxsprings is back in my place)everything else I own has been quadruple-bagged, shrink wrapped, heat treated and put into storage... I took a lot of time, and over 10 grand of my own money to do all of this, because I really wanted to eradicate the problem, and my LL had led me to believe that I was partially responsible for doing so as well......I finally hadn't seen any activity...nor had I been bitten so around September 20th, I spent the night in the apartment....only to get bitten again....so I went to the LL's office, showed them the bites, told them the lengths I had gone to, and they sent the head of maintenance out....he saw the measures I was taking, and promised that they would have the carpets ripped up and sprayed underneath and that they would seal up all of the cracks, etc in the unit. But what freaked me out was that he mentioned "off the record" that they had a situation in another complex last year or so where management sued the tenant when the neighbors got infested. I went to a lot of trouble to pull off all of the outlets, seal some of the cracks up, etc....and the PCO that they have a contract with spent 20 minutes instead of the usual five, Dismissed my bites with "you could have gotten those from anything" and treated me like I was nuts because he saw no signs of them, and he knows I have gone to some extreme measures to get rid of them.....This was last Thursday....I have a now dead bedbug in a caper jar that I had to chase down Sunday morning, and I am waiting to get my Bug domes in the mail(Stern Enviro emailed me yesterday and I ordered four right away) so I can prove the lil' bastards are still in here. I am no Entomologist, but common sense tells me that they could very well be coming in from next door. The few I have found have been very close to a common wall I share with a neighbor, and with all that I have done to get rid of them, I don't see any other rational explanation for them still being in here. I'm about at my wits' end.
The problem is, that between the severe allergies and the lupus, I haven't been able to live in the apartment for nearly two months, and I can't go on like this....I can't run the risk of getting bitten up again, it could aggravate the lupus and lead to serious health problems for me, I have tried to explain this to my LL, and don't feel that I am being taken seriously at this point....The law that was passed on 2/5/09, A-3202 was brought to my attention a week or so ago, and now that I have seen that it's their sole responsibility, I am pretty upset.
I guess my question is, what do I do from here? I simply can not live in this apartment...even if it is treated properly...Do I have grounds to break my lease? or better yet, to go after them for my expenses and the rent I paid for the time I wasn't able to live here....Management is swearing up and down that they have never had issues here before, but I'm not buying it. I know I need a lawyer that handles BB cases too.....If anyone here knows of a good one that is not going to charge me a ton of money, please send their info my way.
Sorry about the rant, but you all know how it is......
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mionina
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 5
Posted 1 month ago
Wed Oct 7 2009 12:28:23
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Correction....Apparently A-3202 is not law yet....but I still think I have a case!
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cilecto
senior member
Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 520
Posted 1 month ago
Wed Oct 7 2009 21:01:20
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LL is clueless and or a sleaze. Why do they need to rip ip the rugs?
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I think it's a little of both.....It isn't so much a single landlord, but a larger management group. They have huge complexes in Lyndhurst as well, so you would think they would know what they are dealing with. They wanted to pull up the carpets and spray underneath because that's where these schmucks think they are hiding. I know, they really have no clue, it blows my mind.
My game plan is as follows:
I am still awaiting the arrival of the bug domes, and they should be here by tomorrow.....from what I understand, they are pretty conclusive,...I'm gonna set them up all over, but with one by the common wall in my building....with a digital camcorder rigged up...so I can get some pretty strong evidence to take to a lawyer......in the meantime, I am re-wrapping my furniture in marine-weight shrink film and I'm having it stored, and then thermal treated before I move again.....I guess maybe if I can prove they were coming from next door, I may have grounds to break my lease and go after them for damages and the rent I'm now paying for a bug-ridden storage space. I have only seen three or four bugs since they have been spraying....but they are adults.
I hate dealing with ignorant people...their staff won't even come in here anymore....Grrrr
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cilecto
senior member
Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 520
Posted 1 month ago
Thu Oct 8 2009 10:15:26
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Like your video idea. Not so much for determining fault, but because it might give you a clue to where the harborages are. (If they're coming out of your walls, they may it may not be coming from your neighbors today and they may have come over six months ago and taken up in your place.) In any case, I'm suspicious of any LL who claims "you're the only one". Have you checked your complex against bedbugregistry.com?
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