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Coming in from next door?
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beth1447
newbite
Joined: Nov '10
Posts: 2offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sun Nov 28 2010 17:17:27
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Hey there,
New to this site and to bedbugs (oh what an honour!).
We found a single one today on the underside of a pillow that had been sitting on the floor all night. Next to the pillow is a hole in our wall that leads to the apartment next door that the radiator pipe runs through.
While I know that if we've seen one, there's probably more, I'm wondering if there's anything we can do to prevent them from coming in through that hole without burning our apartment down?
And does anyone know how likely it is to get BBs from neighbouring units in a building? Our landlord swore up and down that there's no way they can travel between units unless we've been in infested units ourselves, and I'm wondering what the odds are of that happening. He's now blaming us for it because we've been the only ones to report it.
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so unsettling
senior member
Joined: Oct '10
Posts: 456offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sun Nov 28 2010 18:19:09
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First of all, are you even sure it was a bed bug? Lots of things can be mistaken for them.
They wouldn't typically move from one unit to another unless the infestation was very large, or if the unit next to you had treated for them, which can unsettle them and get them running. From what you say, no one has reported any there. The hole in the wall is too obvious, anyway. They don't need to look for large openings, and your pillow being there means nothing.
Either way, your landlord shouldn't be "blaming" you for anything. Many people never know how they got them. But first find out if this thing really is a bedbug! If so, your landlord may be responsible for treating the unit. Ask her if there have been any in the building. Good luck.
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beth1447
newbite
Joined: Nov '10
Posts: 2offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sun Nov 28 2010 18:32:57
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Yep, it's definitely a bedbug. My boyfriend works in the hotel industry and therefore had a brief training to recognize them, and we did a ton of Google searching today.
The law in this city is that if the landlord can say you brought it in, then he doesn't have to pay for it to be treated. He has no way of proving it was us, but we have no way of proving it came from the building. He says there haven't been any else in the building but I know there's been cockroaches that he also didn't tell us about (luckily we haven't seen any!)
Is it best to tell our neighbours? Or is that opening us up for more blame?
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so unsettling
senior member
Joined: Oct '10
Posts: 456offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sun Nov 28 2010 18:55:59
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Wow, that city needs to change its ordinance. I would see a lawyer and look for plausible deniability. There is no way to know that you "brought them in". Someone on the building's maintenance crew could have carried them, or someone in the building could have them who hasn't reported. Is there an apartment storage unit under you or anything like that? The ways they can end up in our homes are legion, and most people still don't know how to protect themselves from it. That ordinance is all wet, as it implies a control we don't have.
My landlord requires that we report any suspicion of bugs right away, and then they start treatment without confirmation. Some would say this isn't the best approach, but my landlord's belief is that they have to be nipped in the bud to curtail greater financial losses further down the road. One time they had a tenant who didn't report an obvious infestation, and it spread. This was a nightmare, and they opted to never let this happen again by requiring tenants to report any signs promptly. If tenants don't report them in a timely manner, the burden of paying for treatment lands on the tenant, but otherwise the landlord pays for it.
I don't know about telling neighbors, as my landlord took care of that when they started treatment. There must be some loophole in that law that will require your landlord to take responsibility. No apartment building is immune from this, and it is something most of them will have to face eventually. Good luck to you--find a way to make him pay!!
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