I thought The New York Times had forgotten all about the bed bug issues, but an article in this weekend’s real estate section by Teri Karush Rogers, about co-op and condo buyers and their bed bug problems and bed bug fears, is sharp and useful.
“Most residential buildings in New York City have had bedbugs”
“Buying and Selling in Bedbug City,” describes the bed bug problem in co-ops and condos as pervasive and hidden:
The problem is so pervasive that some lawyers have begun incorporating sellers’ representations about bedbugs into sales contracts, adding to now-standard ones about leaks, mold and noise issues.
and
“Most residential buildings in New York City have had bedbugs,” said Aaron Shmulewitz, a real estate lawyer at Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman who represents 300 Manhattan co-op and condo boards.
and
“We tried to find out which units had the bedbugs, but the co-op would not tell us,” said another would-be buyer who also asked to remain anonymous to avoid trouble with a future board.
“Sick” buildings
A companion piece describes the signs of bed bug distress:
Two units among 200 is one thing, but 30 percent is the threshold at which pest management companies often start treating the entire building as “sick.”
and
Similarly, it’s ominous if the infestation has spread beyond the early-stage clover-leaf cluster — the targeted apartment and the three or four next to it, above it and below it.
and
“It becomes a sick building,” says Dov Treiman, a real estate lawyer at Adam Leitman Bailey. “I have seen it take three to four years to cure a bedbug problem.”
There is in addition a sidebar on “debugging.”
While there is often a significant difference in the bed bug fighting resources of NYC renters and co-op and condo owners, for the bed bug itself it’s all the same—actually, that may be an oversimplification given the likely higher risk of spread in buildings that are poorly sealed or in disrepair, but the larger point is that bed bugs make themselves at home anywhere.
Moreover, whatever financial advantages co-ops and condos may be expected to have in a fight against the most expensive pest in the city, they are offset by built-in disincentives that inhibit reporting of infestations to building management and hinder the kind of coordinated bed bug treatments—systematically taking into account adjoining units—that are necessary to eradicate infestations.
So there is a substantial bed bug problem in co-ops and condos like we knew all along. We’ve been saying forever that the HPD stats are not the stats—although we insist that they must be publicly available and we want them to be monitored and analyzed—and that the real infestation rate in our city is unknown.
Unknown but probably high. I think we need to come to terms with this. I used to think the rate might be around 5% city-wide. Now that seems hopelessly optimistic. The quotes I’ve highlighted above remind me of this:
It is estimated that in many areas practically all the houses are to a greater or less degree infested with Bed-bugs.
The past is the future. Or may be closer than we think. Consider all the stories you are hearing about bed bugs in workplaces. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? I’ve been wondering about that.
These pages may be of related interest:
