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.
I had these once. It was psychologically terrible. If you already struggle with sleep or mental health, you’re going to have a very bad time living there while you treat the place.
I saw some good advice in the comments as far as diatomaceous earth and freezing. Make sure you look up the actual temps things will need to get to. I recall baking my clothing in my oven at 110 F, or something like that, before leaving the apartment every day so I wouldn’t spread them. Ugh.
I ended up throwing out most of my stuff, bagging up anything I wanted to keep but didn’t need to access for ~6 months (or whatever their lifespan is) into tightly tied garbage bags with diatomaceous earth inside, and for the remaining possessions, I heated them or sprayed the shit out of their cracks (like wood furniture) with bedbug spray.
Just assume your stuff is infested and treat anything that was in there with you. Don’t fuck around. Go full nuclear on your shit after you move out. It’s the only way you’ll be able to sleep soundly for years.
Best of luck to you. I really hope your living situation gets better. I think I saw your fallback option was loud. I sleep with an earbud in whichever ear isn’t smooshed into my pillow. I also recommend those white noise machines that have an actual fan inside (or just a loud-ass fan lol). Even if it doesn’t drown out all the noise, it’ll cut out a lot and it’ll be easier for your brain to tune out stuff. Maybe that’s something you can try.
No chance he’ll ever get rid of them if he stays, the other people may not treat their portion and they’ll be back.
There are also free apps and YouTube videos of sleep noise if you’ve got a speaker or earbuds to help drown it out. Can download the audio with youtubetomp3 searching and not use bandwidth repeatedly each time.
That’s a great idea about the sleep noise and just getting a video thing to see if it helps.
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)
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:
It’s your responsibility as the landlord to deal with pests. Since you continue to refuse, I’m forced to go through XYZ Regulatory Board.
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.
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.
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.
Also get the interceptor cups for the legs of your bed and couch. They cannot travel into the furniture when they’re in place.
And run everything clothing and bedding wise you own through the dryer over and over. Before you leave for work or anything, run your clothes through the dryer so you don’t have any on you.
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…
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!)
In my experience with bedbugs, the way I found out I had them was my sleep schedule reversed. I just found myself up all night and only sleeping during the day.
Only later did I discover it was due to bed bugs. My subconscious responded to them before I became aware of them consciously.
The reason I say this is that you mentioned your being a light sleeper with PTSD.
Bed bugs will affect your sleep. You need to take this into consideration when planning your life.
My advice leans toward saying fuck that place and finding a new one, and the reason isn’t the bedbugs but rather your landlord’s dishonesty.
Your landlord is either lying to you (concerning) or to himself (double concerning). The fact your landlord has taken anti-bedbug measures and yet claims there are no bed bugs is a major red flag.
Bed bugs are hard enough to deal with when everyone is on board and communicating, and not in denial about their existence. One of the hardest aspects of bed bugs is they’re easy to be in denial about. If anyone is showing signs of denial, that is in turn a sign that this might be an unwinnable bed bug fight.
It takes a lot of coordinated, disciplined action among a group of people to eradicate a bedbug infestation. If someone in the group is lying, that’s a very bad indication for the group’s ability to succeed.
My advice would be to confront the landlord about exactly what the fuck is going on with the bedbugs, what the history is, etc. Then, based on how authentic and trustable your landlord presents in that conversation, decide based on that.
There’s a manager and the stuff goes to the manager and that goes to the landlord.
I agree with what you are saying about communication and if there’s not clear communication it will never get better.
But also, I’m not sure writing them will help because they will either be dishonest or honest and I won’t be able to tell based on the email. I also put this to a vote in a post near the end (up for stay, down for leave immediately) and as of now it’s no upvotes and all 9 were leave immediately.
I’m not really able to think that well due to various mental health issues impacting executive dysfunction. I still have things I want, and can still sort of function within society, and so I still exist as a human of sorts, but something like this is super hard for me. (trauma/trigger warning)
spoiler
It’s mostly brain damage due to trauma plus drug use prior to a suicide attempt a long time ago, thinking drugs would make the attempt easier. Spoiler alert: I failed the suicide attempt.
So… I’m probably just going to go with the majority of Lemmy down voting this and just leave.
It sucks, my friend’s place has major problems. I may think about it more and change my mind.
Perhaps I’ll be bitten tonight leaving me with less asymmetric information?
Not sure if they will act as fast or have as much authority, but when I had mold issues that my landlord/management company was dragging their feet on, I went to the department of health for my town. Wouldn’t you know I had a department of health member and the building owners, not the management company, at my apartment the next day to inspect and fix everything.
Check your lease and the laws of your area. Where I’m at, infestations are the landlord’s responsibility unless that gets waived by the tenant as part of the lease. It might be different where you are. If you’re in a building with multiple tenants, and you spray every room properly, it’ll be real hard to get rid of them.
There are ways to test for it. If you have a bed frame, putting tape on the legs and bowls of water under the feet can catch them so you can make sure.
If you need to spray yourself, get the Ortho home defense max bedbug flea and tick killer. It’s the one thing that I’ve find that really works, but you do have to follow the directions, including doing a second spray.
I am sure there is at least 1, there is no ambiguity. I squished it, blood came out, the pesticide person saw it, I took pictures, and I kept it in a bag after as evidence in case I leave. It is not similar to a bed bug, it is the exact shape when looking at it closely, confirmed by the exterminator person.
The exterminator also did not spray anything, just putting out glue traps. I don’t know if this exterminator does bed bug treatments. The manager said they would speak with the owner and get back to me and they had to speak with them after seeing it. (The manager and exterminator both saw.) I didn’t receive an email or put anything in writing yet because I felt it was more likely than not I would just leave and the email was going to be notice that I was leaving due to habitability issues, along with a bedbug picture and hadn’t decided. Perhaps I should email them ASAP just to document it. I am just concerned once I email them they may respond with information about their attempts to resolve it and I may be better off just leaving immediately, claiming habitability problems from the outset.
Another option, if they are legally required to fix the bedbugs, is to start putting your rent in escrow. That might be a down the road option, but it’s good to have in your back pocket.
I’m not an exterminator but traps don’t do much imo
Immediately request Landlord action and if they refuse file a complaint with the closest rental authority: either the city or the county should have one.
You can deter bedbugs with mint essential oils, it messes with their pheromone receptors, and you can kill them with freezing. Do all of your laundry with soap thoroughly to avoid them and their eggs.
If I can kill them by freezing, I have only 2 bags of stuff here. I can leave with two bags, buy garbage bags and 2 more bags, put the first bags in the garbage bags and the garbage bags in the second bags, and buy new clothes and shoes and socks and just have everything sealed tight. I would be able to freeze what I have, that’s easy. I came in with 2 medium bags, almost nothing, and I can just consider the mattress and sheets and pillow a loss since they are too risky to save (and were really cheap anyway).
Good plan
