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Bedbugs & Cockroaches - What Can I Do?

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MElise

New member
My husband and I recently moved from Illinois to Georgia. When we toured our new apartment, we noticed cockroaches everywhere. The property’s assistant manager claimed that this was “just a Georgia thing” and she’d have pest control come once a week for the next three weeks - so we decided just to roll with it. Little did we know that we would end up killing over 200 cockroaches that day. Big ones, tiny ones, all sizes. We also killed several other tiny bugs and we weren’t positive of what those bugs where. We cleaned as best we could, unloaded our furniture, and went to sleep. The next morning my husband and I woke up with bug bites all over our bodies. We had no idea what happened but we decided to shrug it off and continue cleaning and unpacking. Then, when I was squishing a bug on the wall, I looked into the toilet paper and say that bug’s guts were red - like blood. I immediately googled the description and the bug and confirmed it was a bedbug. We brought this to managements attention immediately but they didn’t believe us. They said they needed to send out a professional to confirm the bedbugs. My husband was so angry that he went back to the apartment, picked three bedbugs OFF THE WALLS, put them in a ziplock bag and brought it to the office. They agreed it looked like bedbugs, but still needed a professionals advice. We didn’t want to continue sleeping at our apartment, so we grabbed a bag of clothes to clean and went to a hotel. We went back the next day to grab a few more things and we found bed bugs on our coaches and both spare bedrooms. We didn’t want to continue staying at a hotel (it our eesponsibility, we didn’t want to rack up hotel bills) so we went to the closest place we had family - in Florida. We gave management a list of requests upon leaving; we asked for reimbursement for the hotel stay, cockroach and bedbug sprays, damaged and nonsalvagable furniture, and the ability to break the lease. It’s now been 3 weeks and we still have not heard back from their corporate office about our requests. They have been so incredibly terrible that we just want to get some it if there. We still want reimbursement for te previously mentioned expenses, but we want to ABSOLUTELY break the lease and we also want our first months rent and all security deposits back. My husband is going to send another email to corporate tomorrow demanding these things. We have found a new place to live, but we don’t want to put a deposit down if we won’t be allowed out of our lease. So my question is, if management doesn’t give us what we are asking for, is it a good idea to hire a lawyer?

Thank you!!!! Sorry this was a long question but I felt the background was important.

**management did confirm that the other units in our building have bedbugs and they have agreed to treat all units in the building.

***I have a compromised immune system, so staying in the apartment after chemical treatments is worrisome. Management knows this.


What is the name of your state? Georgia
 


xylene

Senior Member
Hire your own pest control operator, then a lawyer

Honestly at this your infested clothes and belongings will bring the bugs with you even if you get out of the lease.
 

MElise

New member
Thank you for replying to my question!
We’ve taken all the necessary steps to ensure we don’t spread the bugs. We’ll throw out any furniture that is upholstered and deep clean all other belongings (we’ve already had all our clothes and bedding cleaned). Still, we don’t want to involve a lawyer unless they refuse to meet our demands. We’re not looking to get any more money than what we’ve had to spend.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Hire your own pest control operator, then a lawyer

Honestly at this your infested clothes and belongings will bring the bugs with you even if you get out of the lease
.
I agree. At a minimum everything you own needs to be treated before you could safely move elsewhere.
 

xylene

Senior Member
Without professional help, you'll bring the bugs with you and you won't get out of the lease.

This is not the time to hang on DIY idealism.
 

Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
Unfortunately for you, Georgia does tend to be a very friendly landlord state. It is therefore doubtful that a court will reimburse you for cockroach and bedbug sprays, your hotel stay (unless management agreed with you on this), and what you claim are damaged furniture. Getting an attorney MAY help moves things along but even if this were to end up in court and a judgment in your favor, it would still be up to you to collect the actual funds.

The issue then is whether you can break your lease regarding this issue (and get your deposit and rent back). That is likely what you need to focus on. Again, remember that even if a court grants your request, it is still up to you to collect the deposit and rent you paid.

When you went to Florida does this mean you moved out of the apartment taking all items?

Gail
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Did you call in city /county housing inspectors and get a written report before moving out ? If you did not then how are you planning on proving to a court that there was a severe problem ?
 

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