Searching for apartment in Philadelphia, want to avoid bedbugs

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Searching for apartment in Philadelphia, want to avoid bedbugs

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kc99

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Joined: Mar '11
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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Mar 29 2011 21:20:55
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Hello all,
I am starting a search for an apartment in Philly; I am moving there in the fall. I'd like to be as bedbug-savvy as possible during my search. Aside from checking bedbugregistry.com, what other steps can I take to try to avoid ending up in an infested unit? Would it even make sense to try to ask the landlords/management about past infestations?
Thanks!
Nobugsonme

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Posted 2 years ago
Tue Mar 29 2011 23:39:23
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I don't know of any laws in place in Philadelphia about disclosure. Is there a tenants' rights or tenants' advice organization in your city? You could ask them about the laws, just to be sure.

Besides the Bed Bug Registry, which can be helpful, there are also general apartment ratings services like ApartmentRatings.com (here's their Philly listings). Again, hit or miss, but it may be helpful especially in larger buildings, or where tenants are really pissed off (and therefore more likely to review).

Unfortunately, there is not a lot you can do otherwise, IMO. Once you found a place, you could get an inspection, but it will cost a few hundred bucks and if the place is freshly painted, it may be hard to detect anything (at least by a human), and I am not sure how dogs do with painted-over-evidence. I'd ask about this before you hire any inspectors.

(And if anyone is going to hire a canine team, please read the FAQ!)
kc99

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 30 2011 17:15:37
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Thanks very much for the info. I will definitely look into whether or not there is an existing tenants' organization.
cilecto

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 30 2011 18:54:22
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Here's a publication from Temple that might help:

http://www.temple.edu/studentaffairs/housing/AppDev/offcampus/resource_documents/OCL_Advocacy_Groups.pdf
kc99

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Posted 2 years ago
Wed Mar 30 2011 19:33:27
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Thanks! I'll look into these resources as well.