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Brooklyn landlord didn't disclose bedbugs; what to do?

NYC Rent Regulation: Rent Control/Rent Stabilized, DHCR Practice/Procedures

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Brooklyn landlord didn't disclose bedbugs; what to do?

Postby jiwlei » Thu Dec 23, 2021 12:56 pm

Hello,

My GF and I have just moved to a great apartment in Brooklyn. The apartment we dealt directly with a broker who was related to the owner of the building. The apartment's full address is something like 33-35 Fake Name Street but was advertised solely as 35 Fake Name Street. cinema hd

We took the apartment on the spot, as it was in an amazing location for a reasonable price. A few weeks later, it seems as though one isolated bug bite happened in the middle of the night. Fast forward a few weeks after that and it started to be a more common occurrence, but generally the number of bites was low.

We assumed the worst and took the precautions of vacuuming, laying down mechanical insecticide. We previously checked the apartment in the Bed Bug Registry under 35 Fake Name Street, which it was advertised as. Now we checked the Bed Bug Registry for 33 Fake Name Street and we found reports for this location with the most recent being February 2013. We did not have any bed bug info disclosed to us, which is required my NYC law. And we told this to them and they said they didn't know (bullshit) and of course would work with us right away to resolve this.

They have monthly exterminator coming to spray any apartment that asks for it (no charge obviously). Furthermore we have an exterminator who genuinely seems to actually give a shit, who has sprayed our apartment no charge and whom we can make routine appointments with.

(Now for the legal questions part...)

Should things unfortunately not get better, despite all our efforts, do we have any recourse? They're cooperating thus far and have not been unresponsive, we obviously haven't had to pay for any treatments. Is this something that would be grounds for us getting a full security deposit refund if we try and break the lease due to bed bugs? Moving in NYC is obviously very expensive and to think that all our belongings could be potential hazards to move with us to the next place is obviously an insanely worrying thing to think about.

Any help is appreciated.
Last edited by jiwlei on Fri Dec 24, 2021 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Brooklyn landlord didn't disclose bedbugs; what to do?

Postby TenantNet » Thu Dec 23, 2021 1:55 pm

Many buildings have alternate or extended addresses. This is common, and you can find these on the DOB website. It's not necessarily fraud on the LL's part.

Yes, LL's are supposed to disclose bedbug histories, but AFAIK there is no real enforcement - as with many laws - unless you take them to court.

Having had them, BBs do not live for 8 years. They can stick around for 8-10 months or so, but if they are fed regularly, the infestation could survive. That's based on my own experience as we're not BB experts. They seek heat and carbon dioxide, which is why you can test for an infestation by using dry ice as bait. Google that.

Do NOT toss your belongings as some might suggest. Of course, do deep cleaning. Wash clothing and bedding in very hot water. Exterminators brought in by landlords, in my opinion, are worthless. They might spread some repellent or BB killer, but that doesn't do much. You have to be aggressive with the bugs.

There are different strategies. I chose to sleep in an alternate location in the same apartment. It took months, but eventually they all died off without having their food. If the LL is cooperative, that's good, but make sure to document every visit, email, letter or phone call.

You could try to get the deposit back, but in our experience, you would likely have to withhold the last month's rent to get it. That puts the onus on the LL. Of course the LL could still come after you if there are real damages. Also, be careful about issues surrounding lease breaking. While the law on that is better now (LL's duty to mitigate), it's not perfect.

If the LL is being cooperative, that helps their case in any legal dispute.
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