Massive water bug issue - rental in condo building
Started by urbanistaNYC
over 12 years ago
Posts: 1
Member since: Mar 2013
Discussion about
I recently moved into a full-service condo building - renting directly from the owner. Immediately I discovered a massive water bug issue - as in there is one a day. Exterminator service comes in every week and they have sprayed my apartment 4 times already - nothing helps. At first, they were saying that the issue is because no one lived there for a few months and bugs came up through the drains.... [more]
I recently moved into a full-service condo building - renting directly from the owner. Immediately I discovered a massive water bug issue - as in there is one a day. Exterminator service comes in every week and they have sprayed my apartment 4 times already - nothing helps. At first, they were saying that the issue is because no one lived there for a few months and bugs came up through the drains. Now that I have been using water daily for a month, apartment being sprayed and all and issue not being resolved, what are my options?
I think it is the landlord's responsibility to keep apartment free of bugs, but can they claim they have done everything they could because there is exterminator that comes weekly? The kitchen is old and i was told there was the same issue in another apartment before and it turned out there were huge holes behind kitchen cabinets and owner had to renovate the kitchen and issue went away.
Can someone help with an advice? What should I do? Can I make the owner renovate kitchen if that seems the source of the problem?
Many thanks!
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Response by hbennett71
over 12 years ago
Posts: 0
Member since: Aug 2012
I'm so sorry to hear of your water bug issue. They are so gross! It sounds like there's a nest in the wall behind the cabinets. Short of ripping the cabinets off the wall (you might need to in order to patch the hole), I've had very good luck with roach bombs. Place them in the kitchen and the bugs will crawl out when they die. You may even have to do it twice, but they usually work better than an exterminator and you can usually inhabit you apartment after 24 hours. Also, check your lease. You should have a habitability clause that entitles you to a refund if your home is indeed considered uninhabitable. You would surely have a case in housing court, if it got to that point. Good luck!
I'm so sorry to hear of your water bug issue. They are so gross! It sounds like there's a nest in the wall behind the cabinets. Short of ripping the cabinets off the wall (you might need to in order to patch the hole), I've had very good luck with roach bombs. Place them in the kitchen and the bugs will crawl out when they die. You may even have to do it twice, but they usually work better than an exterminator and you can usually inhabit you apartment after 24 hours. Also, check your lease. You should have a habitability clause that entitles you to a refund if your home is indeed considered uninhabitable. You would surely have a case in housing court, if it got to that point. Good luck!