Park Slope Bedbug Disaster
I’m hoping someone can offer some advice about this difficult situation – I’ve spoken to some lawyers but I wanted the Brownstoner take. About the middle of September, I signed a lease on a dream apartment – recent gut renovation, really close to the park, beautiful block. The property manager allowed us early access, since…
I’m hoping someone can offer some advice about this difficult situation – I’ve spoken to some lawyers but I wanted the Brownstoner take.
About the middle of September, I signed a lease on a dream apartment – recent gut renovation, really close to the park, beautiful block. The property manager allowed us early access, since the place had been empty for some time. Apparently the entire building had vacated; we and the ground floor duplex were both 9/1 leases.
So last Friday, we loaded up the U Haul and spent all day carrying things up the stairs. It literally wasn’t until the last item was walked through the door that I looked down at a speck on the wall and realized I was staring at a bedbug.
I caught it and stuck it in a bottle, and immediately got online to verify. It was the real deal. I just happened to google the address of the place, too, when I found a posting about an infestation there on bedbugregistry.com. I thought I recognized the poster’s username from some of the old mail in our mailbox, so I googled that person as well – turns out they lived nearby.
Forgoing inhibition, I walked directly over to the previous tenant and knocked on the door. ‘Lo and behold, they knew exactly why I was coming. Turns out, there had been a serious problem with bedbugs in the building, and all the tenants had moved out before their leases were up. The landlord was not only notified, but was well aware of the problem and had not effectively addressed it, requiring previous tenants to hire their own pest control people.
The next day, I phoned the property manager to ask if he knew anything about a prior infestation, which he denied. When I mentioned that I’d spoken to previous tenants and could substantiate with email chains, photos, and an actual specimen, he relented and said that if I wanted to get out of the lease and get my money back, that would be alright since it wasn’t even the 1st yet.
At great expense, I hired a moving company to come get all our stuff and take it to a storage facility while we found a new apartment. The apartment was completely vacant by last night, the 30th. Both the property manager and broker were informed that the apartment was open to be shown to prospective tenants.
I called the property manager this morning to schedule a time to come pick up the rent and deposit (they have first, last, and security). He told me to stop by the office tomorrow afternoon.
Not less than an hour later, I got a call from the landlord himself, informing me that I didn’t know what I was talking about, that the building had no bedbug problem now or ever, and that he considered the lease to still be in effect and binding. I told him that not informing us ahead of time that there had been an infestation was something I considered fraudulent, and that he had plenty of time to rent the apartment, that all we wanted was our money back and no bad blood was necessary – I was willing to eat the cost of the movers. He responded that he wouldn’t allow it. I told him that I guessed, then, we’d have to talk to an attorney. He dared me to do so.
He also suggested that my own home (I own an investment property) might just as easily turn up on a site like bedbugregistry.com – although I’d never mentioned the site. I asked him what exactly he meant by that and he quickly changed the topic. But I’m pretty sure we both understood what he was after.
So that’s my nightmare, which is as of yet ongoing. Does anyone here have any thoughts or advice? I’m contacting everyone I know to try to figure out what our next step will be.
ANY advice will be appreciated!
I appreciate both your considerate tone and your helpful observations, modsquad.
So the entire building vacated without one violation being filed by the city? Are you all smoking from the same crack pipe? Srsly!
you did the right thing, one bedbug is too many. where there is one , there are others. this probably wasn’t a bedbug just taking in the sights. we had bedbugs in our brownstone, we lease the top floor with 2 other tenants in the building. our neighbor under us went on a vacation and unwittingly brought back bedbugs. 3 weeks after they got back the whole building was infested. $5000 / 3 and 2 months later we were bedbug free. complete horror story. my wife is so freaked out now, she bought bedbug sprays,diatomaceous earth, allersac travel sheets and bedbug proof bags for when we travel. thank god they don’t spread diseases, at least that we know of.
Unfortunately, there are tenants on the first floor now – and with small children. They also found a bed bug in their apartment, although it was already dead.
The kicker here, I think, is that I provided an easy out – I never asked for my moving costs (both in or out) to be reimbursed, and I vacated before the lease term even began. My assumption is that the landlord simply wants to keep the money I gave him and will probably rent the place relatively soon while still trying to strongarm me into submission. I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if he’s already rented it.
In the meantime I’ve been researching this property every way I know how – trying to put together some kind of dossier on it to provide whichever lawyer we end up going with. I can’t find any registration information with the HPD, and according to the DOB there is no certificate of occupancy on file, either. I know that may not mean anything if it’s just an administrative snafu, but can anyone here shed any light on these things?
Unfortunately, no violations are registered with the HPD regarding bed bugs. But I’ve researched other properties with known bed bug problems and I haven’t found one yet that lists that violation in the HPD database.
compared to the time and expense of hiring a lawyer to sue and finding a new place to live, would it be a cheaper and faster resolution to hire an exterminator to treat the place?
i realize that you want your money back, and i agree that in an ideal world you would get it back without the undue hassle of what sounds like a unsympathetic/crooked landlord, but if the apt were free of bedbugs, it sounds like — based on your post — it would be your dream apt. can you get together with the new tenant downstairs and split the cost to do the whole building (while your apt is empty)? then move in.
it would be funny if all the previous tenants dressed up like bedbugs and picketed outside the building too. that would get media attention. it would be like those people who put the giant rat in front of buildings!
*rob*
quote:
Also I dont doubt that you have a BB in a jar but if I’m not mistaken BB dont crawl on walls in broad daylight
yes they do, ive seen them at a friend’s apartment. we smashed them on the walls and blood literally squirted out.
*rob*
Obviously this landlord doesn’t live in the building b/c he doesn’t seem overly concerned.
He needs to get a bedbug care package in the mail to see what it’s like on the other side.. *cue Vincent Price horror flick laughter*
Brooklynnative – You should write up what you do – all the press says it’s an intractable problem. You might make a fortune!