'They made an expensive mistake': Landlord ignores multiple bed bugs reports, tenant exposes them, costs them a fortune

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Aug 10, 2023 2:00 PM EDT

There's a special place in the afterlife for landlords who refuse to address serious issues from tenants. When it comes to the rampant issue of bed bugs, in particular, it takes a specific kind of sketchy landlord to ignore those calls and emails. It is no understatement that bed bugs are about as scary as conditions can get for tenants. When even the most difficult and paranoid tenant claims that there are bed bugs in their apartment, no matter how wrong they may be, you do not want to dismiss the tenant. The consequences could be long-term and damaging, as they were for this family of landlords.

 

This tale of petty revenge was posted to Reddit by u/Languid_Bot, whose friend Paul crashed at his place for a big before he got his own apartment. It took less than a week in the new apartment for Paul to realize that the place was infested with bed bugs. The landlord ignored his email, and Paul learned from other tenants in the building that they believed they had bed bugs as well. Paul took the initiative and got an inspector involved. That inspector heard building management gossiping about her, which led to mandatory inspections not just of the entire building but of all the buildings this family managed. Turns out they were all in poor condition, so the inspection was worth it and the costs for the landlords were astronomical.

 

Keep scrolling below for the full story. For more, check out this tale of a retired engineer and his petty revenge on his neighbor.

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  • 01
    Font - "Sketchy Landlord Learns Expensive Lesson" BEHIN
    via Erik Mclean
  • 02
    Font - Sketchy Landlord Learns Expensive Lesson Reposting: Mods said it wasn't ProRevenge -\_(^)_/- I wasn't the tenant in this story but it was a former roommate of mine and I had a front row seat to the events. So my friend, let's call him Paul, returned to my city after living out of state for a year or so. He needed a place to stay while he got himself set up with a job and a new apartment. I had a spare bedroom so I offered it to him for a cheap price. That way he could be month to month an
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 03
    Font - Everything seemed fine. Paul liked his new studio apartment in a large apartment building. It wasn't far from work, near transportation and in an area where he had other friends. Great. He got all moved in and seemed to be set. UNTIL... he realized the apartment had bed bugs! He wasn't there a week before he started finding bed bugs and bed bug bites (of course). So he did what anyone would do. He contacted the landlord's office to report the problem and ask about solutions.
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 04
    Font - The office claimed that had no other reports of bed bugs. They had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe he already had bed bugs when he moved in? You get the idea. Well Paul knew they were lying. So he started talking to the neighbors on his corridor. And of course he found others were also dealing with bed bugs and that the landlord had given them the same bulls responses.
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 05
    Font - So Paul decided to do a bit of research to see what options the tenants had. Turns out they could easily report the problem to the city inspectors and the more reports they got from the same address, the more likely they were to prioritize sending someone to inspect the building. Paul put together the info for reporting with suggestions for what to mention and asked his neighbors make reports. Some of them must have followed through because it wasn't long before Paul was contacted about t
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 06
    Font - The inspector turned out to be a young woman who was VERY dedicated to her job. She told the landlord it was their responsibility to cure the infestation. The landlord wanted to bring in his usual exterminator to treat the apartment and hallway. They tried that but it didn't fix the issue. The inspector eventually insisted that they tear out the carpet and sections of flooring where the infestation seemed to be centered.
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 07
    Font - By now the inspector had seen that multiple units were affected so the costs were mounting. She also discovered that the building hadn't had a proper inspection in years. The landlord was dodging her and didn't want to set up a time for her to do a full inspection, of course. LOL
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 08
    Font - Well, after he negotiated to get out of his lease, Paul gave the inspector the punch code to the front door AND pointed out several things he thought the landlord was hiding including bed bugs on other floors, malfunctioning elevator, old fire extinguishers, illegal basement level units, improperly stored building supplies, tripping hazard floor in laundry room, damaged walls in corridors... The inspector called Paul and let him know she had returned to the building on a couple of occassi
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 09
    Font - Hahaha. The family owned firm that owned that building had several large apartment buildings in the area and the inspector intended to visit them all! She had already found tens of thousands in repairs for Paul's buidling that she was insisting the owner make ASAP. Given how they were operating, I'm sure all of their buildings were in a similar state. They made an expensive mistake when they tried to ignore Paul!
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 10
    Rectangle - Archangel4500000 +1. Also bedbugs are terrifying. They are one of the few things we know of that likes eating humans. Reply Share 457
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 11
    Font - pakboy26 Making scummy landlords pay is a Reddit fave! Scummy landlords provide no value to society and it's good to hear stories about them being penalized. They literally have no incentive to change until they are forced to do so. 147 Reply Share
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 12
    Font - Archangel4500000 +1. Ferengi rule of Acquisition #103 "Sleep can interfere with opportunity." 138 Reply Share
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 13
    Font - CoderJoe1. I got bit by bed bugs in a hotel. They didn't care so I blasted the story with photos all over social media. Surprise! They suddenly cared. They offered to refund me and give me many points in exchange for removing my posts. I declined. People needed to know. Those bites itched pretty awful. 67 Reply Share
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 14
    Font - Languid_Bot OP. Good for you not letting them buy you off! You probably saved a lot of people from bed bugs by posting about it. 20 Reply Share
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 15
    Font - Lovelyone123-. I had to call the town on an old landlord myself because he wouldn't fix the water heater. We had no hot water and I had a toddler and one on the way. 1 39 39 Reply Share
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 16
    Font - Languid Bot OP. The indifference of some landlords is amazing.
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 17
    Font - _my_choice_ h! It sounds like it may be cheaper to just burn it down and rebuild. At least the fire would get rid of the bed bugs.
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 18
    Font - MissTenEars I would have said pro too since they were clearly going to be in trouble for millions by the time they went through the other properties! This was a small effort that paid back gigantic dividends.
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 19
    Font - bugzapperz You let your friend back in your apartment with stuff that was exposed to bedbugs? Nuh uh! We had bedbugs in one room of our house and fought them for years. Finally got rid of them but it was a PAIN
    via u/Languid_Bot
  • 20
    Facial expression - Techgruber. And landlords never understand why they get regulated.
    via u/Languid_Bot

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management pro revenge landlord revenge tenant petty revenge reddit thread Reddit roommates apartment
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