Targeted bedbug treatment can often be effective with less work for tenants
Q: I recently discovered that there are bedbugs in my apartment. My landlord told me not to take any action until the pest control operator had come in, which happened the next day. The pest control operator had me bag up my bedding. Then he vacuumed my mattress and box spring and told me to put a plastic encasement around my mattress and “Climb-Ups” under the legs of my bed. He also told me to launder my bedding and to run the clothing from a dresser next to my bed through a hot dryer. The reaction seems really low-key compared to what a friend of mine had to do to get rid of the bedbugs in her apartment. Will this work, or is the landlord just putting off the need for me to launder and bag everything?
A: Your friend was probably told to launder all clothing and bedding and to keep it sealed up until the chemical treatments worked, which can take two treatments and six weeks or more. That was a lot of work, and somewhat costly. That is still required if a bedbug infestation is severe.
However, it appears that you discovered and reported the bedbugs early, and that your landlord is using a targeted approach. Bedbug biology is such that when there are only a few of them, they will cluster in the bed or bedding, or at worst spread to hiding places within a few feet of the bed. When caught early, that means the treatment can be limited to the bed, bedding and any hiding places close by. The pest control operator probably wants you to run the clothing from the dresser through the dryer as a precaution to kill any isolated bugs, since it is the heat of the dryer that kills them.
The key element of the targeted approach to bed bug treatment is that the action taken is specific to each rental unit, each tenant’s belongings, and the stage at which the bedbug infestation is discovered. Other tenants may need to do much more than you are doing if that is what their landlord or pest control operator tells them to do, but the targeted approach can certainly be effective in the right situations.
CFAA RENTAL HOUSING CONFERENCE 2015
The Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations (CFAA) is the national umbrella group for landlord associations across Canada. From June 10 to 12, CFAA will be holding its annual Rental Housing Conference in Toronto.
In more than 30 sessions spread over June 11 and 12, the conference will cover:
Building repairs and retrofits (Thursday)
Employee management (both days)
Rental housing investment issues ( both days) Revenue management (Friday) Apartment marketing (Friday) Besides line managers, both department heads and generalists in human resources, marketing, and building maintenance will find a full day stream of sessions addressing the current issues in those fields.
There will also be lots of opportunities to network with colleagues.
To register, or for more information, see the conference section in the CFAA website at cfaa-fcapi. org. The early registration deadline is Wednesday, May 6.