Forum
« seeking architect for bstone reno Discount Tile »
May 8, 2008
Bed bugs
I live in a building with three apartments. I recently found bed bugs in mine arising from a sofa purchased from Craigslist. The exterminator found remnants of dead ones in the sofa. I'd like to know who is responsible for the extermination of the bed bug infestation -- me or the landlord. According to my lease my apartment is suppose to be inhabitable and free of pests. Advise and please no snide comments.
Comments
Let me see, you buy a used sofa on Craigslist infested with bedbugs and you think that it should be the landlord's "responsibility" to pay for their extermination becauase your lease says your apartment is supposed to be free of pests. So, if you bought some rats, let them breed in your apartment, and set them loose that would be the landlord's responsibility right. I'm trying not to violate your your "no snide comments" request but do you even begin to realize how ridiculous and selfish you sound. It's your fault but you are hoping to pass the cost onto your landlord by some simple minde legalistic reanding of your lease because your too cheap to pay for your mistake. You caused the problem deal with it asshat. I can't stand people like you.
Posted by: Brooklynnative at May 8, 2008 9:36 PM
I agree Brooklynnative, minasimon's "no snide comments" request is an admission that the idiot knows he's in the wrong but hopes to pass the buck.
Posted by: guest at May 8, 2008 9:42 PM
Go try passing this along to your LL. Watch while he uses your security deposit to resolve the problem. Watch then while he asks you to restore that sum and, perhaps, doubles that deposit. Watch while he moves to evict when you don't comply.
As the prior poster said: caveat emptor. This is not a lesson in law but in real life.
Posted by: guest at May 8, 2008 9:43 PM
I'd evict your ass if I were your LL. How's that for a snide comment fucktard?
Posted by: guest at May 8, 2008 9:47 PM
As you created the problem it is your responsibility to fix it. Your LL is well within his rights to collect your security deposit to restore the unit back to habitable condition.
Posted by: guest at May 8, 2008 9:48 PM
If you read this post carefully, minasimon doesn't say that the sofa is actually in her apartment. If the sofa was purchased by and is in her apartment she is responsible. But if the sofa is in another tenant's apartment then the fault lies elsewhere.
Posted by: guest at May 8, 2008 9:55 PM
9:55 true, but how many tenants would know that someone in a different unit bought a sofa on Craigslits infested with bed bugs. I'm pretty sure the sofa was in minasimon's apartment - either hers or her roommates. In any event, the person who bought the sofa should be responsible. So minasimon, did you or your roomate buy the sofa? You certainly don't seem to be getting a lot of sympathy here.
Posted by: guest at May 8, 2008 10:08 PM
Technically the law is on the tenants side. If there are bed bugs in the apartment she could force the landlords hand and require him to hire a licensed exterminator. However, in doing so she would have reserved herself a special place in hell that is teeming with hungry bed bugs. You made your bed - lay in it, bitch.
Posted by: Bklyn Fire Alarm Guy at May 9, 2008 9:04 AM
and they don't "migrate" throughout a building. they typicall have to be "carried" by either a human or a mattress or a sofa
You get what you pay for on Craigslist!!!
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 9, 2008 9:15 AM
Can the bedbugs spread to the other apartments? If so, shouldn't the landlord know in order to take precautions for the rest of the building? Liabilities aside, shouldn't the landlord know they are in his building?
I would try to approach this in a conciliatory way with my landlord and accept responsibility for bringing them into the building in the first place. Good luck -- don't dodge the bullet, it is the right thing to do.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 9:18 AM
I agree with Brooklynnative - This should be the responsibility of the renter. I dont know legally if it is. In addition just to let you know bed bugs spread very quickly..... So the OP will some likely be infested - so he/she will need to buy or exterminate the mattresses, bed sheets etc... Good luck.. Good reason not to buy a couch on craigslist - Maybe you should contact the seller and ask them to pay for your extermination (make more sense than asking the land lord)
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 9:35 AM
I think I might be your landlord.
Had you not said where the bedbugs came from, you may have gotten away with it.
Now that you've posted it on the internet and said you brought them into the apt, you are screwed.
And you better believe you are going to pay for it.
Or leave.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 9:47 AM
i think that the surest way to get snide comments is by asking people not to post them... i don't understand what the question is? if you bring something into the building that is infested with bugs of any kind is is obviously your responsibility. why on earth would the landlord be responsible?
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 9:57 AM
9:47 if you actually are the landlord please post a new Forum post once you've resolved this and let us know what happened. Thanks and good luck.
Truly a small world!!!!
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 9, 2008 10:02 AM
Bedbugs can travel from apartment to apartment, so the landlord does have an interest in stopping a conflagration quickly--at its source.
But they are not particularly likely to travel from apartment to apartment, which makes figuring out whether or not your tenant is responsible for the infestation pretty easy:
The first tenant complaining of bedbugs brought the bedbugs in.
If more tenants complain subsequently--particularly if they are near the first complainer--their bedbugs are your problem.
While the OP is being an utter douchebag, the landlord does have an interest in making sure the infestation is dealt with to her/his satisfaction.
If I were the tenant and wanted to change my douchebag ways, I would go to the landlord, admit responsibility and offer to split the cost of a really good exterminator. This is the win-win solution.
If I were the landlord, I would not worry about being lied to as much as I would worry about controlling the infestation. I would suck it up and gladly pay for half, as long as I retained control of the exterminator used and the protocol for getting rid of the infestation.
And if the tenant kept insisting, I would just go ahead and pay for it--I would bite my tongue. I would think seriously about whether or not I want to renew a lease to this douchebag tenant, but in the short term I would put other tenants and my own interests before any petty feelings of being screwed.
So OP, if you want my advice:
Do you want to keep living here? Do you need a reference from this landlord? Do you mind burning a bridge? If so, then be bigger than you are being! If not, then fuck it. You do have the landlord over a barrel.
I hope you take the high road.
Posted by: vanburenproud at May 9, 2008 10:10 AM
This is a bogus post, people.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 10:17 AM
And your security deposit is toast!!!!
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 9, 2008 10:18 AM
this is another post from the original poster:
"Does anyone have a recommendation and general estimate to remove and then replace a separating 5x20 brick 2-story extension? Thanks."
doesn't sound like she's a renter to me. sounds like she's a LIAR!
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 10:30 AM
10:30 is correct...Mina is a 41 year old female attorney...need any more info????
Apparently she has not won any cases lately if she's buying a used sofa on Craigslist.
If she posted this just as a prank she's got bigger problems plus...
tick tock
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 9, 2008 10:40 AM
I suspect she has a lawsuit where she's representing one of the parties and she can't figure it out so she asks on brownstoner. maybe she's trying to make a landmark case in suing Craigslist or maybe she's just a second rate hack attorney.
Rebuttal Mina???
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 9, 2008 10:49 AM
I don't think she's buying used sofas. I think she's turning to this forum to aid her with cases. And you say realtors are bad?
Posted by: rh at May 9, 2008 10:49 AM
I find brooklyn fire alarm guy's language and attitude offensive. I wish there were a little more monitoring of this site for sexist and racist bullshit.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 10:51 AM
10:51 brooklynfirealarm posts a lot of helpful comments to people in the Forum. I bet you don't; and, if the show fits, wear it.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 9, 2008 10:53 AM
Fake post or not, makes you think twice about buying all that "vintage" furniture and clothing at the flea market.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 12:25 PM
doesn't make me think twice, 12:25.
makes me think there are a lot of liars and filthy people who troll around on this website.
namely you and the original poster...
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 12:35 PM
Since we're all detectives now, here's my view: OP used to own, now she rents. She bought the couch, got an infestation, and now wants permission to make someone else pay for it.
Oh, and she's a loser.
Posted by: curiositykilledthecat at May 9, 2008 12:56 PM
Bklyn Fire Alarm and Dave-- Why so hostile to OP? As another poster points out it's not clear if (s)he brought in the offending sofa or if another tenant did. That said, can we just tell OP that if (s)he brought the bedbugs in, it's his/her obligation to hire an exterminator to get rid of them? Or if another tenant brought in the bugs, that other tenant should be paying for the exterminator? How easy was that?
I agree that both of you post helpful comments on this board, but that doesn't mitigate baseless hostility.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 12:58 PM
Perhaps, daveinbedstuy, if you weren't so continually overexcited (oh boy!!!) you'd notice fire alarm guy's posts tend to be obvious and dull.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 12:58 PM
maybe Mina and Ysabelle are roomies. Or even more likely, the same person. Think about it, one is a laywer looking for legal advice and the other is an interior designer that dispenses dubious information while looking for european cabinet makers. Curious this is.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 1:04 PM
At this time last year when we were renting in Carroll Gardens we had a horrible bedbug experience. We have no idea how they were brought into the apartment (no used furniture). I notified the landlord and he gave me the name or the regular exterminator he used. We had to empty all closets and launder EVERYTHING and put it in garbage bags. The exterminator came for an initial visit and then one or two follow ups at an expense to me of close to $600 for a tiny 1BR plus den apt. We continued to live out of garbage bags and saw occasional bedbugs for another month until fortunately we were moving anyway. It was a nightmare! As for who is responsible for paying the exterminator, both the exterminator and the city of ny (311) advised me that the landlord should be responsible. I paid and then the landlord screwed us anyway on the security deposit and I would venture to say did not mention bedbugs to the next tenant.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 1:07 PM
12:58 thanks for the exciting post...brooklynfirealarm is informative...which is what people need here unless it becomes clear that they are bogus which Ms Mina Simon, Esq. certainly is...you take yourself way too seriously
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 9, 2008 1:39 PM
Actually the landlord of a three unit building is exempt from responsibility for extermination.
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 2:00 PM
While I understand that Mina's posting record is fishy, those of you who think an atty would do legal research *here* need to get over yourselves!
Posted by: vanburenproud at May 9, 2008 2:18 PM
Dave,
12.58 here. Based on your prior posts as well as your moniker, it seems that you and I are neighbors, and that we live pretty close to each other. So neighbor, enlighten me. How's it "clear" that this post is bogus?
Posted by: guest at May 9, 2008 2:27 PM
Because she's a lawyer according to her bio 12:58
Look at her other posts on other issues as well
BTW where do you live??? which block?
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 9, 2008 2:40 PM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.