BED BUGS!!! do i have a case???

my apartment is infested with bed bugs... i told the leasing office they came to spray once and have never followed up...it has been a month and i contacted them several times with no responce... i work in the entertainment industry and my body is COVERED in welts! because of this i am not able to work or make any money.. i was late on my rent this month and was charged over $600 in attorney fees for being 25 days late!!! i can't live like this anymore! i can't sleep or eat or even go out! has anyone heard of a case like this? do i even have a case? please help me figure out the next step! any sort of evidence would be great such as different laws about pests and landlord resposiblity! thanks so much! p.s. i know they are bed bugs i have taken pictures of them and researched what they look like!

As often as not, bedbugs come in with the tenant. They rarely take up residence in the unit itself. A can or two of Raid is highly effective, just follow label directions.

Breaking your lease and moving will NOT fix the problem as they'll just accompany your stuff when you move!

Been there, done that. (Brought them back from Eastern Europe on a business trip last year. Yuck!)

definitly sounds like you do!!

yea its deifnetly obvious that u have a case... now ur choice is to move somewhere else or to sue the building

good luck

they are dust mites

consult an attorney

you should contact your local board of health if your landlord isn't taking care of the problem, they also sell home "bombs" like at walmart, kmart, target.... you have to leave your home for a few hours when you set them off until everything settles.

bed bugs are your responsibility.

the landlord can probably prove that they did not exist prior to you renting.

since you are getting these from your bed and furniture...the liability lies on you.
dump your mattresses and get the rest of your furniture cleaned well.

good luck :)

I probably would have paid for the extermination myself and sent them a bill before I subjected myself to the damage that you have.

Call the local health department and find out who in your area decides if a home is safe or not...that is your first step in legally forcing your landlord to do something.

Meanwhile..two places bed bugs like to live....if you have any curtains or flowing fabric, they hide in that...or obviously the mattress.

Here is a cheap fix for the mattress....during the DAY, Spray it down with Lysol and go to Walmart and get a cheap mattress cover that zips up the entire mattress...leave it on for about 3 months...this will suffocate them...it's cheaper than replacing the mattress for now.

The bed bugs cannot be far from you...they don't like to stay far away from their "host"...and I'm sure you can't wait to put up the eviction sign.

I am staying at a hotel right now because of the same problem. Our apartment already had the horrible things before we moved in and we found out that our next door neighbor is moving because of them. We are probably going to have to get a lawyer so we can break our year lease and move. I have SUCH a phobia about bugs I cannot stand to live there for one more day. I am SO SORRY for you! Document everything - take pictures of the bugs on your bed, talk to your neighbors, go to the doctor and have them tell you the welts are bug bed bites - my husband and I have them - my husband had to miss work because of them... it is CRAZY, miserable, horrible, disgusting and close to impossible to get rid of unless you sterilize everything and move!!! I'm so paranoid of getting a new bed after throwing out our old one and just getting them again - they travel from apartment to apartment, they can hide in crevices, floorboards, furniture and live for MONTHS after a place has been empty for a while, only to start feeding on their next victim when they move in.

Start documenting everything to try and find out if anyone else in your building has had them and complained about them - our next door neighbor has had them for a year and same with her next door neighbor and so we know that the building has had the bugs. The WHOLE building needs to be tented because they will NOT go away just by spraying. Our neighbor said they keep spraying and the bugs just come back in a couple of months. She's moving in a couple of weeks now.

I'm so sorry for you I HATE these stupid things. Get a lawyer. Seriously. Soon. We are!!!