Forum Archive: Posts by: rooo

Hi,
Any advice anyone has on this would be very much appreciated.
Here is my situation–I live in a medium-sized rental apartment building. This past weekend I saw that a tenant (I don’t know who) had disposed of roughly 10-15 black garbage bags in the building’s garbage alley and had labeled them all: “Bed Bugs”
. Later that day I saw the super of our building systematically going through the bags and sorting some stuff into recycling bags, taking some stuff into his own apartment, and throwing the rest of the stuff away. The next day, two mattresses and some furniture were also outside in the alley.

Having read a lot about the nightmare of having bed bugs and how easily they can spread from apartment to apartment, I wanted to figure out which apartment had the problem and see that it was being dealt with appropriately (and that adjacent apartments were being treated as needed). I called the building’s managing agent to inquire. He told me he had heard nothing but would get back to me. He called me back and reported that he had spoken to the super and someone else in the managing office and was told that there have been no complaints about bed bugs and no one has heard anything. I explained to him what I saw and he said that some people had moved out of an apartment but that new people were moving in. I asked if he knew whether those people who moved out were the ones that had thrown away all the bags and he informed me that the apartment had been “redone just a few years ago and was a very nice apartment”. I responded that the quality of the apartment had nothing to do with it and that if those people were the ones who had bed bugs then the apartment (and potentially others) needed to be treated to prevent them from spreading through the building. He emphasized to me that there have been no complaints so he didn’t know what to tell me. I asked him if he could contact those people that moved out and find out if it was their stuff so that if it was the apartment could be inspected, but I’m not confident that he will actually do it and get back to me.

I’m not really sure what to do here. Having seen the bags in the alley (and it’s an alley that has to be accessed through the building, so it’s not possible that someone else dumped their trash there) it’s clear to me that someone in the building has/had a problem with bed bugs. I would just like to be certain that it has/is being treated appropriately so that the bed bugs are not still in the building and going to spread. If he is really telling the truth that there have been no complaints, do I have any recourse beyond just doing my best to ask around the building if anyone else has seen/heard anything? Please help! All I can think and worry about at night is bed bugs!

Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!