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Paterson Signs Bedbug Disclosure Act Into Law — Brooklynian

Paterson Signs Bedbug Disclosure Act Into Law

boygabriel
boygabriel
edited November -1 in Brooklyn Politics
Excellent news and a job well done.

11,000 complaints last year, up from 537 in 2004. YIKES

from Gothamist:
Rest well, residents of the #1 and/or #7 city for bed bugs, because Governor Paterson just signed a law that will help protect you from the critters. Or it just may make you want to move out altogether. The governor just signed New York State Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal's "Bedbug Disclosure Act" into law. Rosenthal said in a statement, “Nothing is more horrifying than signing a lease after a lengthy apartment search only to discover that your new apartment is bedbug-infested. By requiring landlords to disclose infestations before the lease is signed, people will have a means of guarding themselves against exposure to this plague."

The new law will require landlords to disclose to prospective tenants any history of bedbug infestation in the apartment building and individual unit within the past year. Last year, 311 reported 11,000 bed bug complaints, up from 537 in 2004. And needless to say, they've been everywhere. And now, they've figured out how to use the ferry.

Though just 254 Staten Islanders have placed bed bug complaints, the number is up 94% from last year. One exterminator told the Staten Island Advance, "It's become monstrous and it's getting even worse. I've even seen them in exclusive, big beautiful homes on Staten Island when college kids come home for the holidays and bring them from the dormitories. However, Brooklyn wins with 5,000 complaints to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development in the past year.

Rosenthal said she has also introduced a bill that would create a state tax credit for victims to use to recoup the costs of furniture, clothing and bedding that had to be replaced during a bed bug infestation. She said, “It seems clear that bedbugs are here to stay, and I am determined to find new tools to fight this war."

Comments

  • modsquad2.0
    modsquad2.0
    Be aware that in the case of condos and coops there is no legal obligation or right to know if your neighbor has been infested.

    Nothing in the law gives tenants the right to know current conditions.

    Also there is no punishment indicated other then forcing the LL to give the report to the tenant (now in occupancy) upon complaint to the housing authority.

    Complaints to 311 are not evidence of an infestation without corroboration by a city inspector which are far and in-between.

    http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=+A10356 &Summary=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y
  • landlord
    landlord
    This new law does nothing to solve the problem. You will have more and more complaints every year. it will only get worse. They should legalize DDT.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    Obviously this is a bigger problem than a law written on a piece a paper, but this could be an important tool for tenants to get out of awful situations if the landlord didn't disclose a bedbug problem.
  • nearnostrand
    nearnostrand
    landlord wrote: This new law does nothing to solve the problem. You will have more and more complaints every year. it will only get worse. They should legalize DDT.
    Landlord, I couldn't agree more.

    And, while we're at it, I also wish that the sterilization drug for rodents was also legalized for use in the city. But I guess then we would be infringing upon their animal rights.

    :roll:
  • mha
    mha
    I have to say, I am really scared of going to movie theaters now. I am really freaking out about this. I am going to get a stronger vacum cleaner and vacum my mattress to see what it yields. I had the misfortune of actually seeing one of these -- on all things on a hat someone left in a theater. The guy must've put his hat on the seat beside him and forgot it when he left. An usher took it upstairs and put it down saying that someone left it. She peered closer and said, "What's that? Right there. shiny, glossy, brown and flat; a bedbug. I was GOING into the theater as this happened. I already bought my ticket, so I watched the play, but with some trepidation. People used to say that when the nuclear war and winter come, and we are all dead, cockroaches and rats will rule the earth. Well, bedbugs will be there with them...
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    While no one wants to get bit, and they are really hard to get rid of....

    I think the fear of bed bugs outweighs their real danger.

    They don't carry disease.
  • pitu
    pitu
    whynot_31 wrote: While no one wants to get bit, and they are really hard to get rid of....

    I think the fear of bed bugs outweighs their real danger.

    They don't carry disease.
    Totally disagree. It appears that the nuisance factor of getting bit is really awful, on top of the psychology of Eeeek Creepy Crawly Bloodsuckers. Living with that would be like living with debilitating illness. I guess that's not Danger, but it's plenty bad.

    (I've had a couple of close friends deal w/bedbugs - total misery.)
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    Barring some new pesticide, I think we will all have them eventually.

    Maybe I'm just telling myself that they won't be that bad in order to prepare.

    ....In a few years, I imagine a bed bug registry that indicates every apartment.

    Which is kinda pointless b/c they are so easy to bring home.

    It would make sense if it told you where you couldn't get them, and that remained true due to some magic force field.
  • whyfi
    whyfi
    MHA, I feel you on the movie theater trepidation - I have all kinds of time on my hands and I'd like to see a few newer releases, but... eesh.

    Bedbug infestation is fear of mine. In my early 20's, I experienced a flea infestation (ex gave me a kitten, didn't know that it was carrying until a few weeks later - boom). Unlike many people (I guess), fleas find me tasty. Their bites itch worse than mosquito bites and they can last for a week or longer. I have unhappy memories of unwillingly scratching my legs in the shower until they bled. I imagine that bedbugs would be just as bad. No thank you.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    I wish the law was a two way street. I had a tenant who brought the bugs into my apt. cost me around 10k to kill them all in the building.

    she had them from previous apt.

    good thing there wasn't a infestation.

    still would of been nice to of been notified. this way i would of ask her to decontaminate before moving in.

    well technically she wasn't my tenant a subleaser.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    also don't hire the dog guys who also does extermination LOL. learn the expensive way :p.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    armchair_warrior wrote: I wish the law was a two way street. I had a tenant who brought the bugs into my apt. cost me around 10k to kill them all in the building.

    she had them from previous apt.

    good thing there wasn't a infestation.

    still would of been nice to of been notified. this way i would of ask her to decontaminate before moving in.

    well technically she wasn't my tenant a subleaser.
    interesting point.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    there is a lot of miss information there. people abandon their furniture etc.. in their old place and bring themselves into new place and reinfect new place etc...
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    Boygabriel wrote: [quote=armchair_warrior]I wish the law was a two way street. I had a tenant who brought the bugs into my apt. cost me around 10k to kill them all in the building.

    she had them from previous apt.

    good thing there wasn't a infestation.

    still would of been nice to of been notified. this way i would of ask her to decontaminate before moving in.

    well technically she wasn't my tenant a subleaser.
    interesting point.

    This would encourage someone who had bedbugs to simply move, and not report it to their landlord.

    ....I would not want my new landlord to know that my old place was infested.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    this is what exactly happen to my building. she didn't tell anyone and bang bed bugs. hitch along with her clothes or books or bed. (only things she brought along she abandon all her furniture)

    she told me about it after she found one of them in her bed. so i hire dogs the and told them they could do extermination too.

    they found the whole building to be "infested".

    after they came a few times. i read more about it online and hire a different doggie company, they only detected them on her floor only not the whole building.

    after that i learn to spray myself :p. and they were gone after the dogs came again etc...
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    also i wouldn't like discriminate against people who has them, just would be nice to know and to decontaminate.

    When she was done with her sublease, I let her move into my other building. but we know the bugs were gone etc.. no stigma attached. lol one of the tenants in the building she was moving into was like dude!! i'm like they are gone don't worry!!
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    typical of shortsightedness of the law makers. come on common sense should say it should apply both to tenant and landlords!!!
  • MOD
    MOD
    I agree with AW.
    It is short sighted. As a renter I want to be protected from new tenants coming in and bringing their bedbugs with them. If someone moves in with all their dumpster diving/craiglist furniture and bugs I want to hold them responsible in some way by law. Renters in this city need to smarten up, if you had BB in your previous apartment I don't want you moving in next door without telling me and the landlord. It goes both ways.
  • mha
    mha
    True Story: I date a woman - many moons ago - who had fleas/bedbugs, or both.

    After a night of lukewarm passion, we went to sleep, I woke at about 5am on a Sunday morn scratching my wrists violently. Her 'effing' cat looked at me intently, as to say, "Eh tu' MHA? Eh tu?" On my wrists was what appeared a crimson red area of raised bumps. It freaked me out. I checked lil' mha for damage; he was okay. I couldn't go back to sleep. I took a shower and used scalding hot H20. I checked my clothes for pestilence but found none. I never messed around with said person again.

    The rash disappeared the next day.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    lol wow you got lucky man, if you brought those suckers home, i'm sure people in your building would of hated you lol.
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