House Study Bill 520 presented to the Iowa legislature presented by the Iowa Landlord Association has several problems in its midst that are not being addressed.
They are asking that tenants be required to notify landlords of bed bugs infesting their rental property within seven days of moving into said property or two days after the bugs are discovered or suffer the consequences of paying for pest control services. Here’s the rub…
• Bed bugs are elusive creatures that hide in cracks and crevices. Tenants may not know that they have bed bugs because they might not see actual bugs, or evidence of an infestation until weeks or even months into an infestation.
• In multi-unit buildings, bed bugs will travel in between units to receive their blood meal. A tenant can search endlessly for the source of a strange bite but never find any bed bug.
• Bed bugs don’t wear GPS units! Bed bugs can live within the walls between two units and bite both renters, yet never actually reside in one particular apartment unit. In this case, which tenant would be responsible for the infestation?
• Many people are not educated about bed bugs in this day and age. Years ago, bed bugs were a part of everyone’s everyday life. Nearly eradicated from America’s landscape in the 1940’s, unless you are of the older generation, bed bugs are a new phenomenon. Despite their massive resurgence in the United States, many people in America still do not have the proper education to avoid, recognize, and definitely not treat these tenacious bloodsuckers.
• Bed bug bites can resemble other types of bug bites. Additionally, they can take anywhere from one day to weeks for the allergic reaction to appear.
• Research has shown that about 50% of the people who are bitten by bed bugs suffer an allergic reaction to the bite wounds. Reactions can vary from person to person.
• Because bed bugs bites are so new on America’s landscape, many physicians misdiagnose bed bug bite as another skin condition.
• A landlord providing certification that a rental property is bed bug free would be helpful, but it would not prevent bed bugs that existed in other units from infiltrating the newly rented unit.
Education about bed bugs is the key to avoiding being a victim to their bloodsucking ways say NY and NJ pest control professionals.