Landlord ignores tenant's bed bugs problem, forcing tenant to pay for the exterminator, tenant gets even: 'Oops, I didn't realize bed bugs were such a big problem'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Mar 5, 2025 4:00 PM EST

Most landlords underestimate their tenants. They don't think their tenants know their rights, and they certainly don't think their tenants will have the willpower and follow-through to advocate for themselves. 

Unfortunately, most tenants do not have that willpower because they simply don't have the time, energy, and resources to combat their unnecessarily aggressive property managers. However, in this instance, we have a tenant who drew the line when it came to bed bugs. Keep scrolling below for their bed bug horror story and the subsequent petty revenge they got on their landlord.

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    Cheezburger Image 10475806464
    via Alexandra Gorn

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • This tenant first thought the bug bites on their legs were nothing serious. However, when their partner woke up to a literal bed bug staring at him in the face, he confirmed that the tenant's worst fears had come to fruition: they had bed bugs in their apartment. This led to a series of hostile and unnecessary exchanges with their property manager, who refused to help the tenant pay for it and who insisted that it was the tenant's doing. 

    Matters were made even worse when the property manager refused to properly disclose the situation with the other neighbors in the surrounding area. After the bed bugs were finally taken care of, the tenant was unwilling to let their unruly property manager have the last word…

  • 02
    I moved into a new apartment and from the day I moved in the property manager (I'll call her Megan) was always slightly r de. Nothing huge, but for example,
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    the day I came to sign the lease and pay my deposit she waited until I was at the office to say I could only pay the deposit with a money order and was annoyed I
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    didn't bring it with me despite never being informed. Like I said, nothing huge, just sort of inconsiderate.
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    Well, I was getting bites on my legs for a couple months but assumed it was happening when I was going on walks during the day. I was wrong, my partner woke up face-to-face with a bed bug a few months into the lease.
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    I called the leasing office to tell them the unit had bedbugs, and Megan's immediate response was to tell me how much I would have to pay to get rid of them. I
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    told her I hadn't brought in the bed bugs so I was confused about why I had to pay for their removal. She told me I had definitely brought them in because no one else had reported bed bugs, to which I
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    responded, "well, if I had known you were going to charge me hundreds of dollars I wouldn't have told you either, I would've gotten rid of them myself."
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    At this point there had been no bed bug inspection or anything, so she had no evidence to say whether they were coming in from a neighboring apartment or if they were "my" bedbugs. I
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    know bedbugs are easy to pick up in public places, including u- hauls, so it's totally possible they could've come in with me, definitely not denying that.
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    Cheezburger Image 10475813120
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    I asked Megan if she was going to talk to the people in the surrounding units and have those apartments inspected for bedbugs, too. She said no,
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    because no one else had complained about bedbugs. That seemed weird to me because I know someone who worked in a hotel, and if a room got bedbugs there they would fumigate all the rooms in that area.
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    I told Megan I would be happy to inform my neighbors myself that they should be on the lookout, and she asked me not to.
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    The exterminator came and did treatments over the course of weeks but I ended up having to buy a clothing steamer to m er the bedbugs myself because the exterminator's methods didn't get rid of them.
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    WELL, I was getting home from work one day and saw Megan around the property, obviously giving some prospective residents a tour. I immediately
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    started scheming in my head, thinking about things I could've said, but figured I had missed my chance. I was wrong.
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    I got dressed for the gym and walked down to the parking lot, and lo and behold, she was right at the base of my staircase about to show the prospective renters an apartment in my building.
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    I got so excited. I walked past them with the biggest smile on my face and said in the loudest, cheeriest voice i could,
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    "Thank you so much for your help with the bedbug situation, i appreciate it so much!" Her jaw DROPPED, it was incredible.
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    She texted me about 15 minutes later, ped. She said something like, "if you have a problem with me you can talk to me about it in private."
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    I responded, "Oh oops, I didn't realize bed bugs were such a big problem, I just wanted to say thank you!" Those people did not end up renting from her. Oops!
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    Edit: this happened in 2022 and I've moved out since then, so "Megan" is no longer my concern!
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  • 24
    Old_Bar3078 · 18h ago • I love this story. Also, you really should have told your neighbors, if nothing else then for purely selfish reasons--only if every unit is fumigated can you actually get rid of them.
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    delulu4drama • 18h ago . Megan needs to fumigate her personality
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    oolaroux 18h ago . After that remark from her I would be slipping an anonymous note under everyone's doors. Otherwise the bed bugs could come back from the neighbors soon.
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landlord petty-revenge-reddit apartments petty revenge property manager petty entitled people karma bad landlord entitled people apartment
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