People who refuse to throw away the worthless items that accumulate within their homes over the years are known as “hoarders.” Most hoarders live within homes that are jam-packed with unimportant items, like old lottery tickets and ill-fitting clothes. In many cases, hoarders cannot even bear to part ways with their garbage, as it is not uncommon to find full garbage bags that are several years old within the homes of hoarders. As you can imagine, hoarders often experience insect pest infestations within their home. Insects like cockroaches, flies and ants gravitate toward sources of food-waste within the homes of hoarders.
Unfortunately, when one or more hoarders live within an apartment complex, the food waste that collects within their home can bring insects into neighboring apartment units as well, even if these neighboring units are kept in immaculate condition by non-hoarding tenants. For example, during the summer of 2016, residents of a public housing apartment complex in Attleboro, complained about bed bugs that had been invading their apartment units. Unfortunately, many of the affected residents seem certain that the bed bugs within their home originated from a nearby infestation within a hoarder’s unit.
Bed bug infestation cases within the River Court Apartment Complex, which is owned by the Attleboro Housing Authority, have been occurring repeatedly for years. The latest bed bug fiasco at the complex saw bed bugs infest much of the fourth floor before moving onto additional floors. Due to bed bug complaints made by residents several months ago, the housing authority sent a pest controller into the compex. This pest controller treated the property, but it did not take long for the bloosucking insects to reinfest many units within the complex. According to one resident, Joan Wing, there was an extensive bed bug infestation within the complex five months, but now she is sustaining entirely new bed bug bites. The bed bugs have bitten Wing’s head, face, arms and chest. Her apartment was sprayed thoroughly, which seems to have eradicated the bed bug problem within her unit, but only for now.
If you fell victim to multiple bed bug infestations on a rental property, would you become convinced that your landlord does not take adequate care of the complex?