Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Reader questions (do not fit into other categories)
Laws re: Condo Owners and Responsibilities to Report to Condo Board/Property Mgm
(5 posts)-
BugZapped
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 8
Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 3:45:41
#
Login to Send PM
Does anyone know what are my legal obligations in San Francisco in terms of reporting bedbugs in my condo unit? I'm having the condo treated immediately by an IPM and have not treated myself (i.e. I have done nothing to cause the critters to want to move out and into the apartment next door, the one directly above us and the one with whom we share 1 foot in common along a wall (or possibly 0 feet. I think our study wall shares an outside wall only to their patio).
Its not that I don't want to tell my neighbors. I just want time to treat my place and seal up the known holes in the kitchen under the sink and behind the oven - and possibly dishwasher and see if that takes care of it along with the non-pesticide heating and steamng treatment - not to mention massive decluttering of sealed stuff going off to the dump in sealed withduct tape contractor's bags with cable ties0. I'm sure my condo association board and the property manage they hired would blame me and then either do nothing or they'd barge in here with THEIR PCO with inappropriate, ineffective, toxic pesticides. My cat is chronically ill with a disease and so am I and this course of action would harm us both. Or, my worst nightmare: they make me pay for extermnating the entire block-long condo complex. Needless to say I no longer sleep. The bugbites are painful enough but the financial and especially legal burden is destroying my life and health. And I worry about my property values going don, my neighbors hating me...and my condo becoming unsaleable even if I successfully eradicate the bugs (which I am determined to do).
So, how do I find out what the law here is? I've been to the City and County of San Francisco Publi Health site and the California Stae Public Health site. Guidelines, etc. only refer to tenant/landlord situations and property managers of rental apartment buildings and hotels/motels. What about condo owners and condo assoc. boards and their hired-gun property managers? There's a definite assumption in these outdated government documents that only poor people who rent get bedbugs not "nice" people who live in "nice" buildings on the "good" sign of town. Everybody's awareness needs to be raised.
-
There may be no law that says you have to tell your association or your neighbors, but... Had my common wall neighbor told me she had this problem, I may have had an opportunity to caulk and prepare my own unit. Instead her treatment repelled them to my unit, along with other careless actions she took in "preparation."
What a courtesy to at least give your common wall neighbors a head's up would be. To put them on alert. This is not alarmest. It's a courtesy. Then if you have a dog come to inspect afterward, they could have their units inspected as well. This would be the good neighbor approach.
-
parakeets
oldtimer
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 866
Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 9:17:36
#
Login to Send PM
I am not familiar with the specific laws in San Francisco but I've heard they are some of the best bedbug laws in the country and they have clauses about disclosure.
-
BugZapped
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 8
Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 16:16:03
#
Login to Send PM
I've always had a sterling reputation as a "good neighbor" and I certainly want to be a good neighbor in this case. I just want to time any disclosure properly so that I do not harm myself and family. My partner is unemployed and has been for 20+ months. I am on disability. My thinking is that I should wait unntil after the dog comes in a couple of days and my sample bugs have been looked at to verify what kind of bug I have before I make a pronouncement about it. I want to make sure that I am in control of the process. That is to say, that I can legally make sure that at first only non-pesticide and non-toxic methods are used such as heating and steaming within my unit so that my medical condition and that of my cat are not made worse.
After reading Hoo2677's comment I realized that both my adjoining neighbors on my floor travel much more than I do. They travel all the time. One couple travels all the time for business - separately. That's three individuals travelling all over the country and Hawaii by plane and staying in hotels. So the BBs may have come to my place from one of their apartments not from my suitcase. Who knows?
I just do not want to have to pay the bill to have anyone else's place pest-controlled or even the whole building because I am not to blame, things happen, and I called the PCO the minute I found the evidence which was the minute they were of a sixe to be visible.
As for San Francisco's clauses, I just can't find them for condos, only rentals and hotels/motels...
Thanks to you both for responding. Much appreciated.
-BZ
-
BugZapped
newbite
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 8
Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 16:50:16
#
Login to Send PM
I also wanted to know what the SF alws were just in case the Homeowner's Association is responsible for paying for the extermination.
Reply
You must log in to post.
