Hi everyone,
Sorry, but this is going to be longggg
We just discovered we have bed bugs a couple weeks ago, and I just still cannot get over how angry I am with our landlord over how everything has been handled.
We moved into our apartment (1 of 2 apartments in a multifamily home) in June 2015. Almost immediately after moving in we started noticing dark red spots or streaks of blood on our sheets. We just assumed these were from us scratching an itch too hard or perhaps cutting ourselves while shaving (now know these are indicative of bed bugs). After about 2-3 months we stopped noticing any new spots and didn't give it another thought. Fast forward to the middle of December 2015 and my fiancé starts waking up with what look like larger mosquito bites (usually only 1 or 2 at a time, and not everyday). We just thought he was allergic to something, perhaps something in the new sheets we had just bought. Then about a month later (end of January 2016) I finally spotted a live bug when I woke up one morning. I took the sheet off the mattress and found a couple more dead bed bugs. I was shocked, considering we had had the sheets off the mattress several times in the last few weeks and hadn't noticed anything unusual.
We get the PCO to come in, confirm the bed bugs, and schedule the treatment. As we are doing the prep work for the PCO, we call the landlord to let him know what is going on. He says there is no way there could be bed bugs because he sprayed insecticides in the apartment right before we moved in (it had been vacant for about a year prior). He then says he will be coming over the following day to spray again. I told him no way was that happening, we would finish our prep work and let the PCO handle it properly. After talking to the landlord we went downstairs to our neighbors to let them know they should have their apartment treated too, just to be safe.
In talking to our downstairs neighbors we find out that the house has had a bed bug problem for years! the landlord repeatedly refused to have a PCO come treat, insisting on spraying his special insecticide spray (that apparently they buy online from some guy in the army who designed it, which means it's legitimate?). Surprise, surprise the bed bugs keep coming back! The landlord and his wife continue to call us over the next few days until the PCO comes insisting that they can get rid of the bed bugs themselves. Eventually I lost it while talking to them over the phone, and told them that it was incomprehensible how they could feel this was the proper way to handle the situation, and that the PCO was coming and the cost was coming out of the next month's rent check. I also informed them that in our state the landlord is legally responsible for treating and infested units within 7 days, so our downstairs neighbors would be within their rights to withhold rent until their apartment was treated as well. He denied that there had ever been a problem in the house, trying to say we brought them in after moving, until I was persistent enough and he admitted it has been an issue.
I've been so depressed and angry these past few weeks. I feel like a pariah, afraid to go over family member's houses, and afraid to tell anyone what is really going on. I just cannot believe that our landlord would let us move into an infested apartment, not say anything, and then refuse to treat professionally while trying to blame us for the infestation. Honestly, an apology from the landlord would make a world of difference, but instead I get him coming over 2 weeks after out initial treatment to start a fight with me because the cost of treating the downstairs apartment was a couple hundred dollars more (they have 3 beds vs. our 1 bed).
We plan to move out, because I'm afraid that the infestation in this house will never be gone, but at the same time I feel trapped here because I am terrified that we will bring bed bugs with us when we move. I've read about having the moving truck treated with vikane or heat, which has put my mind at ease a bit. We were planning to live here for at least a few years, and now we have the added headache of needing to find a new place to live.
Part of me wants to sue to get our rent back for the months of June-January since the landlord did not disclose the bed bug infestation and was not providing a habitable environment the entire time we've been living here, but I'm not sure that the legal fees and the time are really worth the 8 months of rent, nor am I sure if this is even something that would be considered a legitimate lawsuit.
I'm just so frustrated and needed to vent to others who know the horror that is bed bugs. Thanks!
tl;dr - landlord has refused to treat bed bug infestation in house for several years, let us move into an infested apartment, never disclosed the infestation, and is now causing trouble about having to pay for an exterminator while trying to blame us for the infestation (we have only lived there 8 months)