This afternooon the City Council is having a hearing on the topic of bedbug infestation and several proposed bills. The hearing starts at 1PM. It will deal with some of the ignorance surrounding the issue. A bit from the email we got:
The New York City Council’s committees on Consumer Affairs, Sanitation, and Health have scheduled a joint hearing for Tuesday, February 24th, on three bills to improve the City’s administrative and technical mechanisms for increasing public education, resources, and consumer awareness in choosing informed exterminating services.
There are three bills: Intro 57 proposes the creation of a Bed Bug Task Force and prohibits the sale of reconditioned mattresses. Intro 872 creates guidelines for the proper disposal of infected mattresses. Intro 873 requires the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to establish a bed bug technique training program for pest control professionals and building owners. The hearing is open to the public. Anyone who wants to testify can sign up upon arrival.
GL ANALYSIS
We would go a step further and have the city require the disposal of any infected mattress rather than exposing tenants to toxic pesticides because they don’t want to spend money on a new mattress. Pest control people often tell landlords there’s no reason to get rid of the mattress, which may be technically true, except for the issue of exposing people to dangerous toxins. We’d also urge the city to create clear laws that make it easy for tenants to sue for costs incurred because of bedbug infestation like having to launder all their clothing, destroy possessions and compensation for the trauma inflicted by it. This is one issue where pain, suffering and trauma are no joke. The policies should include a requirement of partial rent refunds. It is a huge and important issue all over Brookyn and New York City and many landlords (even ones that are not callous) are ignorant of the facts and what they really need to do. We suspect a huge body of case law is going to develop on this issue as more and more landlords are taken to Housing Court and more tenants sue for significant amounts of money, especially on the pain and suffering front.
7 responses so far ↓
1 chuck // Feb 24, 2009 at 12:52 pm
As a landlord, could I sue a tenant who brings the bedbugs into my home, and causes me to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to clean the whole building because of their own negligence?
2 Nat // Feb 24, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I completely agree with your analysis.
And the mattresses should always be gotten rid of (preferably burned!) in an infestation. The NYC bedbug population are highly resistant to the common pesticides used by exterminators: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1603/0022-2585%282008%2945%5B1092%3ABAMAOD%5D2.0.CO%3B2
This means that if you try to treat and keep your mattress, you will just get exposed to the chemicals and still likely not get rid of the BBs.
Exterminators need to be trained to use other treatments like steam. Basically, this kind of information just needs to get out there.
3 JRae // Feb 24, 2009 at 5:29 pm
I think it’s a bit extreme to sue for “pain and suffering”. The landlords didn’t cause or invite the bedbugs to infest their building… yes they should act swiftly on it, but beyond that why should it be treated any differently than a nasty infestation of cockroaches?
People are freaking out over bedbugs just because they don’t like the idea of things feeding on their blood at night, but they’re less harmful than mosquitoes.
It’s also the tenants’ responsibility to alert the landlord to the infestation , because it’s not like the landlord’s going to know unless they live there. If the tenant is ignorant and doesn’t know that it’s bedbugs, then the landlord can’t be blamed for failing to act sooner and squashing the problem before it infested all of their furniture.
BTW, I am not a landlord, just a renter who did have bedbugs twice in my apartment. We figured out the problem early on, educated ourselves, acted quickly and were able to eradicate them without losing any furniture or our mattress.
I just feel like people are unfairly blaming landlords for this, when really it’s no one’s fault and there’s not much you can do to prevent them… no one should sue over them.
And the pain and suffering is such bullshit, people really need to grow a backbone. Our ancestors have been dealing with itchy nasty bugs on our bodies for millenia…
4 ben // Feb 24, 2009 at 6:26 pm
While I agree that this can be a traumatic experience I think it is wrong to place the burden and cost solely on landlords.
What you are saying is that if a tenant goes out and buys a used, bedbug infested mattress and brings it into his/her apt. that the landlord should be responsible for not only paying for extermination but also for laundering of clothes, loss of possessions, rent refunds, and pain and suffering? All because of the tenant’s action which caused the problem in the first place? An action that the landlord had zero control over?
5 rsguskind // Feb 24, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I was referring to apts. infested before people move in, which the landlord may or may not be aware of. And, yes, I believe there is a trauma involved in this that is unlike mosquito bites. Roaches and waterbugs don’t live in your bed and come out at night and bite you. If you’ve ever lived through it, you’d understand the freak out factor, having to live out of plastic bags for months, being paranoid they’re still there, being exposed to possibly carcinogenic toxins and SLEEPING on them. Etc.
6 greenwood slope // Feb 24, 2009 at 7:10 pm
agree with those above – how is this the LLs fault?
also, there are actions a person can take to stop it from becoming a full-blown infestation. the way their bedroom is arranged, being mindful of what is coming into their apt., and where their luggage has been
I am a landlord and have paid for the (expensive) treatment for this, but give me a break. Who would you want to sue if it was your condo? The city? God?
7 Jim // Feb 25, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Who’s been sleeping in your bed? There are ads in sites like craigslist for used mattresses, futons, etc. Why would anyone ever consider buying one? Maybe dumpster divers just harvest the stuff from the streets and list them for sale. Guess they have to make a buck someway.
Also, at one time I was told that trucks delivering new mattresses could not haul out the old one on the same truck. Don’t know if that is true, but it doesn’t seem to be the case today.
Not to mention the problems that can be found at motels even in the best vacation areas. They change the linens, but rarely the blankets. And no one can expect them to change mattresses after each visit.
I am not a landlord, but I don’t see how they should be held responsible for the problems that their tenants trot in with them.