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Unhelpful Landlord
(3 posts)-
brooklyn bed bug
newbite
Joined: May '09
Posts: 1
Posted 10 months ago
Fri May 15 2009 13:13:12
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I have been noticing bites for the past three weeks but was hopeful they were simply mosquito bites. Unfortunately, they are not. This week I saw a bed bug on my wall and it was official, I was in bed bug hell.
I called my land lord and told her the situation. She said she would send someone out to deal with it that evening. She asked us to leave the apartment and said she would use the spare key to get it. I wanted to meet the exterminator and find out exactly what the situation was and what my roommate and I needed to do in order to solve the problem.
When she showed up it was just her. No exterminator. And she was holding asprayer filled with toxic smelling chemicals. I asked her what was in the container and she said "I don't know but it's the good stuff".
She said to let her know if I get any more bites.
I feel completely overwhelmed and confused. I am not sure what my next move should be.
Any kind and experienced bed bug battlers have advice?
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Adele
senior member
Joined: May '08
Posts: 634
Posted 10 months ago
Fri May 15 2009 23:39:34
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brooklyn
I am surprised that more folks here have not jumped on this one.
I don't know if I am kind or experienced, but I can tell you that what your Landlady did was illegal in many ways and may have made your problem much much worse.
Pesticides inappropriately applied can cause bedbugs to spread out and maybe even get into the walls. if that happens your problem will be more difficult to get rid of.
First - in order to spray insecticides to exterminate an apartment in NY you need to be a licensed PCO. Unless she has a license (which I doubt) she broke the law. compounded by the fact that this idiot was not even inclined to tell you WHAT she was spraying - she may have also endangered your health.
Do you have proof that you have bedbugs? have you caught a sample? if not, you need to have proof of their existance and you may want to spring the bucks to have a bed bug dog examination of your apartment. You might have to wait a while now that your genius landlady spayed some crap around your place - dogs can't be exposed to pesticides for about a month or so after it's been applied
in the meantime you also want to check with 311 in NYC to make sure it is her resposibility to treat your place as it most likely is the landlords responsibility to get rid of these heinous creatures but here are a few exceptions to this rule.
If she is responsible and you have proof then you need to send a letter to your landlady stating that you have definitive proof of their existence in your apartment (bites don't count) and according to NY law it is her responsibility to get a LICENSED PCO into the place to eradicate the probelm. You can further tell this bright person that it is illegal to spray pesticides without a license and there are stiff fines for doing so (implied threat becasue you caught her)
notice i said eradicate the problem as you don't want her to hire some cut-rate spray jockey but someone knowledgeable and expereinced. remind her that this is HER property and HER investment to protect not yours
Once you send the letter you have now created a paper trail with something to refer back to and have documented the problem
hope this helps
good luck
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bedbugdude
member
Joined: Feb '09
Posts: 121
Posted 10 months ago
Sat May 16 2009 9:09:12
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Landlords spraying for bed bugs is illegal to say the least and that "good stuff" will only make the situation worse. Anyhow IF she sprayed your one up on her. What ever she sprayed will not work. Document this whole thing, collect a sample of live bed bugs, and take pictures or video if you can.
This all of that in place you can pretty much demand she get a professional or your calling the board of health and she will suffer heavy fines AND still have to pay for a PCO.
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