Are you dealing with Bedbugs?

[Scottlandlord]

Some news today about the NDP's proposed solution to the bedbug issue:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/bedb...landlords?bn=1

New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo is pushing for a law forcing landlords to be licensed and their premises inspected for bedbugs, saying Ontario is “doing nothing” to stop the growing scourge of pests.

“The landlord simply doesn’t get their license renewed if they don’t have a bug-free unit,” the MPP for Parkdale-High Park said Thursday in proposing a private member’s bill.

“It protects good landlords and calls bad landlords to account.”

Landlords would be charged a small fee for each inspection, making the initiative self-funding, DiNovo said.

The Liberals have chimed in with their plan:

Liberal MPP Mike Colle (Eglinton-Lawrence).... would require landlords to present prospective tenants with a “bedbug information report” before a lease is signed.

The FRHP have their statement:

Landlords are “heavily regulated” as is and are required to treat any infestations reported, said Mike Chopowick of the Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario.

And the Ontario Landlords Association for small business landlords gave their thoughts on the NDP bill:

A group representing landlords who own five units or less—often in the same building where they live themselves—accused DiNovo of “political opportunism” for trying to lump bedbugs in with the larger issue of landlord licensing.

“Let’s focus on the bedbugs first,” said Stuart Henderson of the Ontario Landlords Association, which encourages its members to inspect and thoroughly clean units when tenants leave.

I'm wondering if people here are dealing with the bedbug issue and, if they are, what their solutions might be.

[spirit]

My 95 year old mother had her unit infected with bedbugs. All her clothes needed to be washed and dried. Even the wool ones !!!!!Her couch and mattress was disposed of. Unit sprayed. Then two weeks later we needed to remove her hospital bed because they think the bugs were in the mechanical workings. They hide in baseboards, headboards anywhere near a source of food. You that is. Lots of information on the internet. The stress was very difficult for her and she needed to be removed from the unit twice for spraying. The staff told me they are paranoid when they get home and take strict precautions before they enter their homes. I am restricting travel and when I go I will take extra precautions re my luggage. I live in Edmonton and there is a website telling which apartment buildings are infected. Not all of them are low income, there are a few luxury building included. IMHO this is a huge problem and will get only worse.

[GeniusBoy27]

I've seen an increasing number of kids in the hospital with bedbugs. The key in getting rid of them is throwing everything in the washer with hot water (including stuffed animals), and anything that can't, should go into an airtight bag for a week.

Then steam clean the place.

For caution purposes, I ask them to repeat it in a week.

[chaudi]

They are extremely hard to get rid because they are part cock-roach and part fly. They just hide in the walls and floors. Also their bite is very painful and causes welts like a fly bite.

If you rent you can get a big rebate from the LL, call the health inspector asap. You should also be careful that you don't carry them to the next apartment with you better yet make the LL pay for a hotel.

Only thing that really works against them is DDT which you can probably get in china town.

[Berubeland]

The key in getting rid of them is throwing everything in the washer with hot water (including stuffed animals), and anything that can't, should go into an airtight bag for a week.

Anything that can't be washed must be disposed of or heated to over 140 degrees if it can be. Alternatively bedbugs can be killed in the winter by exposure to sub zero temperatures for 2 weeks minimum.

I just finished writing a post on it...

http://landlordrescue.ca/wordpress/b...ide-landlords/

One interesting idea I heard at CAIC from David Horwood another property manager is to allow your tenants the option of upgrading from regular spraying to heat treatment. The difference is about $400 but they don't have to wash anything or dispose of any furniture and the place doesn't have to be sprayed 3 times (66% of all infestations require 3 treatments)

I think we'll be seeing more heat rooms installed in buildings to prevent tenants from moving them in. Every tenant will have to wait while their property is heated up long enough to kill the bugs

Genius boy mentioned kids. I think the most problematic infection vector will be kids, schools have communal coat storage rooms and those back packs are likely going to be very handy for transporting bed bugs from school to daycare, to home, to sleepovers and play dates.

I totally agree that landlord licensing is crap for bedbugs. Unless getting a license helps landlord pay for spraying or causes the bedbugs to leave.

I also think the Right To Know Act is Total Crap too.

I did have a good idea about expanding the program that is currently used for restaurants to apartment buildings. A nice green sign by the door indicates no known problems, a yellow sign means one or two units currently being sprayed and dealt with, red sign means run for your life, major problem or suites reported and not sprayed. Every building has to have a sign, CONDO's included.

This way there is no way for the landlord to "forget" to give the documents to the tenant and a significant incentive to deal with the problem ASAP. bottom line is you won't be renting very much with a yellow or red sign.Furthermore, buildings who deal with it right away won't be penalized for 5 years. As for landlord licensing what are they going to do if a landlord doesn't get a license or keep it? Spank him? Give him a fine he won't pay? Sell his building? That'll be effective after it takes 10 years to go through the courts. A law without a good what if, is useless. Imagine if the cops gave out lollipops instead of speeding tickets. Every one is familiar with this program already so the learning curve is pretty simple for people. No need to develop a new system, just expand a system in spot, hire more staff, print more signs, it's simple.

The other problem is this one...landlords really can't afford it. Especially those renting one bedrooms with heat and hydro included for $650 per month. There are very slim margins in this business and none of them account for paying possibly thousands of $$ per unit for pest control. It just isn't happening. Landlords are not going to go bankrupt so they can get rid of bedbugs. I can guarantee that no landlord has ever brought in a jar of bedbugs to his/her building to "seed" the units. You can't really blame them for not wanting to pay $$$ to get rid of something they had absolutely no control or responsibility for.

[Spidey]

The Liberals have chimed in with their plan:

Quote:
Liberal MPP Mike Colle (Eglinton-Lawrence).... would require landlords to present prospective tenants with a “bedbug information report” before a lease is signed.

It strikes me as extremely hypocritical that those who would regulate free market landlords are the same ones pushing social housing developments. Social housing has massive problems with bedbugs, cockroaches and a host of other problems that generally wouldn't be tolerated if these buildings were run by the private sector. It seems when the government is the landlord they are unable to meet the requirements that they expect of the free market.

[IHH]

I've seen an increasing number of kids in the hospital with bedbugs. The key in getting rid of them is throwing everything in the washer with hot water (including stuffed animals), and anything that can't, should go into an airtight bag for a week.

Then steam clean the place.

For caution purposes, I ask them to repeat it in a week.

Bed bugs can live for 18 months without food. To kill them some companies use heat....50 degrees celcius for four hours....this is not a do it yourself option.

[Just a Guy]

I know a guy with couple of units in a building that is owned by multiple people. One unit was going into foreclosure, and the owner walked away leaving his drug-using tenants to do what they wanted, which included allowing homeless people access. This, of course, brought in the bugs, which were originally contained to the one unit. They got the place sprayed, and worked on evicting the unit (the condo board had to do it, not the owner, so it took a while) and the bugs spread after the first spraying.

Basically, they guy kept his places empty while the spraying happened (they did a three round one after the first spraying). It can be tough, especially when it's not even your fault.