Please help me, Lemmy.
I was staying at a friend’s for a month waiting for an affordable room to be available, only to move in and after a week see a bedbug.
It’s a single room, for poor people, with a shared kitchen.
I am poor, work remotely, and my financial situation is bad. I thought this could improve things.
I moved in a week ago, but didn’t move all my stuff in because it’s in boxes in my friend’s garage right now.
I have moved in with 2 outfits, 2 jackets, a work computer, some computer accessories, and have purchased 1 matress and pillow and bed sheet set at target.
The manager of the property beforehand said there haven’t been bed bugs for years, but one of the door has like a block over the bottom with powder in the doorway past the block to kill bugs as like a sort of trap. The manager said prior to my moving in this is just fear from 3 years ago. The units are very affordable and I had to be on a waitlist to get a unit.
I am not sure what to do. The place is mostly quiet and I could work here. I don’t love the area because although it’s low income rent, it’s in a high cost area with many food places nearby charging very high tourist amounts, like any burrito or sandwich is $13 at least. Rent is very low, however.
I could leave now before moving other stuff in, put my stuff in bags except for my work computer when getting back to my friends, and look for a different slightly more expensive place. I can’t stay with my friend long-term because her apartment is next to a distribution center with trucks pulling in and out all night and I wake up easily due to PTSD and always being on alert, even when sleeping. She sleeps through anything. I also don’t like ear-plugs and can’t sleep with them in. When I was staying there I was chronically tired.
Suggestions from Lemmy? How bad are bed bugs? It was only 1 but I squished it. Pest control coincidentally came that day and identified it is a bed bug.
Also, I have not paid rent for this month and it’s due by tomorrow. I could actually leave immediately, today even, and just not pay the rent. My credit is bad already and the money would be useful if it’s a mistake to stay. It’s sleazy to leave wirhout paying for this month, but I am poor and may not have the luxury of paying for a place that could result in a chronic bed bug infestation. I would also lose my deposit.
I also don’t know where it came from. I can’t be totally sure it didn’t come from my friend’s place although I stayed there 5 weeks and saw nothing bad. I also had purchased a new outfit from a store with vintage recycled clothes, like an upscale GoodWill store, but that was 2 weeks ago and there were no bites. It may not be from the new place, but I don’t think I was bitten before the move in. Strangely, I don’t even know if the bedbug I squished bit me. The pest control person said the city has many infestations and could have come from public transportation.
My friend lives 6 hours away by bus and I don’t know as many people there. It’s also a cheaper area and I could move there. I could actually just get a ticket and leave today if everything else is irrational.
I am very tired and don’t know what to think. The time at my friends impacted my mental health and I’m not sure I am seeing it rationally.
The problem is, if there’s bed bugs and you go somewhere else, it’s very likely they’ll attach to your belonging and hitch a hike to your new place… Best would be have the landlord take care of the issue, it is their responsibility after all.
If the landlord doesn’t cooperate, maybe you can tell them you’ll call pest control yourself and deduct the amount from the rent you owe… no idea how well that would go legally speaking, but maybe it’ll allow you some negotiating leverage. (obligatory IANAL)
Not usually kosher. Withholding rent isn’t typically. Many places have a Landlord/Tenant regulatory body. And in a situation like this, you would usually say to your landlord something along the lines of:
Start whatever system that regulator has to deal with landlords not keeping on top of their obligations. If paying for and withholding rent is what’s allowed, it’s better that you have contacted the organisation responsible for enforcement of rental laws. If just withholding rent is what’s allowed, said organisation will often be a “neutral” 3rd party and hold the money due to the landlord in escrow until they do whatever they are supposed to.
Just withholding rent is grounds for eviction almost everywhere. Do not withhold rent as the first step.
If you withhold rent without going through the proper systems you will often get a “you were right, but you didn’t do it right, so you still have to get out” from the regulator when they enforce what is actually a legal eviction.
I believe you need to gas the place three times to fully eradicate them.
In a reply to OP I mentioned having grown up in an area that was essentially a bedbug hotspot. Gassed 3 times if you’re lucky.
If you’re willing to just cut everything and GTFO, can stick a few sets of clothes in a bag and into the freezer for preferably 48hrs+, shoes too. While you wait, contact the city, inform them you are in an infested house. Bag everything up and most cities have a dedicated disposal team.
When you’ve sorted all the stuff and put it where disposal can get it take your sealed bag of freezer clothes directly out of the house to somewhere with no carpet, vinyl flooring or concrete, and no furniture nearby. Place the freezer bag away from all walls, stand well away from it and strip everything. All of what you take of goes into a different bag to be disposed of. If you have someone you’re comfortable being naked around do this with a buddy, check eachother for bedbugs, get dressed. Bring the infested bag to the disposal pile. That bag. Does. Not. Touch. Your. Clothes. Sleeves rolled up, bag at arms length. Get it on the pile but don’t get close.
Bounce. Spend the next 6 months being paranoid. Or years.
If there’s something sentimental you can double or triple bag it and wait a couple years.
If it’s freezable, put it in. Even a “vacuum pack” bag unless it’s sealed perfectly, like both ends are heat sealed, can let the fuckers out. Freeze anything you want to keep for as long as possible. Minimum 48 hrs. Everything else gets gassed repeatedly, or disposed of. Kill it with fire if you can do so without being arrested or accidentally killing someone.
There are hear treatments available. Multiple times are necessary, and likely more than gas, but it’s less of a hassle.
If I stay, I won’t withhold rent. I am only withholding rent if I am leaving, and then I can say I left because it’s not habitable. These places are cheap and the legal costs of filing suit against me would not be worth recovery. They would keep my deposit and then I’d move on. It may be the rational thing to do, to just leave immediately.
Get that. Could still be held liable for back rent. Just don’t want you to get fucked over because your landlord is a slumlord. Do what you need to do. But don’t fuck over tomorrow you while doing it.
Sorry you’re going through this. Such a nightmare. Unironically sending you good outcome vibes.
Something to consider is a mattress protector that kills bed bugs and seals the mattress from other ones getting in. I don’t want to promote them here but I know a company that sells them, but they’re not super cheap ($75 to $150). Good side is that it has a 10 year warranty. DM me if you want details.
Except barely anything is here. I have some cheap clothes I could throw out, and air mattress and sheets and a pillow I can throw out. The only things I need is the work computer and electronics (can be bagged and frozen) and would need to use the work computer quickly. Is it worth it? I’ve heard getting rid of bed bugs is hell. Should I just cut my losses?
I speak from experience with them. You will bring them everywhere. They hide in everything they can. I went through two months of dealing with them and they are hell.
If someone came over knowing they had a bed bug problem and brought them into to my apartment, I’d make sure it came out of their pocket to fix it.
They can take weeks and multiple exterminator visits to fully get rid of them. Make the landlord fix it or find another place (and take precautions not to bring them to your next place!)
But I was only here a week so far. I could take the bus, buy new clothes at Walmart and change inside a restroom before going, just throwing out my current clothes. I have so little I would be taking with me and could put the electronics in garbage bags and freeze them. The only concern is the work computer, but I could use a sick day for work and freeze that for a day.
I’ve barely been here at all. There are also many people living in this building with some shared facilities.
Should I just leave today? I could do that, it’s not impossible, a bus leaves in a few hours.
They’re right. A week is 6 days, 23 hours, and 45 minutes longer than it takes to get yourself and any luggage or boxes, bags, purses, shoes with a strap that’s fabric on fabric. If it’s a proper bedbug infestation, sitting on anything. Putting your shoes next to the wall or in a closet on the floor. Putting a bag on the floor. They’re small, easily visible when you know where to look, but if you’re not specifically looking for them, and you go into an infested home/hotel/restaurant/shop, now you almost certainly have them on you and/or your stuff. They’ll hang out until you put whatever they’re on down, or sometimes just fall off. And now wherever they jump ship gets infested too.
Edit: Sorry, Trauma response. Metro area I grew up in had/has a bedbug epidemic. Multiple times living in infested apartments, or going to a friend’s I haven’t seen in awhile then getting a call a few days later saying they found a bunch of bedbugs and having to purge everything. shudders
But I have so little stuff here. I can actually purge everything except the work computer, and I can keep that frozen for half a day without it breaking.
The stuff here isn’t that valuable.
So. Not to freak you out. But they totally hang out inside electronics.
I would contact your work’s IT, if it’s your employer’s, and ask them if they have a protocol for bedbugs. If the landlord is willing to fumigate, the computer can be damaged by the chemicals used. So you still need to get in touch with IT.
Yeah, if I were you I’d cut my losses and try to find another place. If you’re lucky enough to know this place has bugs while very little of your stuff has been exposed, I’d get out before the problem has taken hold in your life.
That said, there are ways to deal with infestations. Likely if it’s been a problem dating back years, there’s some place they retreat to that kick starts the population each time they’re exterminated. But in typical homes, steam treatments from professionals can eradicate the pests. Mark Rober made a pretty good video pushing back on some of the stigma:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JAOTJxYqh8
Good luck to you. I hope you end up in a good place after all this. Sucks to get this close to a stable living space only to be thwarted by invertebrates.
Bed bugs are good at hiding. If there’s one, either it hitched a ride with you or someone else, or there’s more hiding nearby. Look all around the mattress, sofas, etc. maybe ask the pest control guy for a thorough inspection.
As far as leaving… well, depends on your rental contract whether you’re (legally) allowed to leave at a moment’s notice. Also, once again, you’d still have to take a lot of care inspecting and/or sanitizing your belonging, or getting rid of them.
On the positive side, bed bugs are annoying but they don’t transmit diseases like e.g. mosquitos or ticks.
Source:
I’m not allowed to look into other rooms of other tenants. I get the sense that because the rooms are small, many may be cluttered.
I am not that concerned whether I am legally allowed to leave. I don’t have much, they won’t bother suing me and my credit is bad. The laws of physics allow me to walk out, go purchase a bus pass, and leave with 2 bags of stuff and be on my way.
What worries me is moving my stuff in, bed bugs get into everything, and then I become one of those people fighting bed bugs for years. It sounds awful. I am poor but work full time, I don’t want to be afflicted by constant bed bugs. I want to know the optimal choice to reduce my own suffering given asymmetric information. It’s possible just walking away is the best choice, but my finances are not good right now.
Do your roommates and other tenants enjoy living with bed bugs? Because either they were there already, or if they came with you, they’ll eventually spread to them as well.
Assuming they don’t enjoy living with bed bugs, maybe work together with them to find then and exterminate them, including asking to allow pest control to check their place.
If they think as bed bugs as cute pets and don’t want to get rid of them, then seriously think about leaving. Maybe check your rental contract for a way out, e.g. if landlord not getting rid of bed bugs is a breach of contract or something (again IANAL, chech with people who know how this works).
Edit: based on your edit than you don’t care about legal consequences… then yeah, if your roommates don’t cooperate, then just leave. I’d still look for a legal way to exit the contract, if there’s one, but that’s me.
My co-inhabitants of the building don’t all speak English, all are very poor, some could have mental issues, some may be drug users. There are also many tenants and I am new and don’t speak a second language. It may not be easy or possible to coordinate with everyone and if it were it would be extremely time consuming.