Bed Bug Infestation In Co-op

[Irina76]

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

I am a co-op owner and I reside in one of the co - ops in Brooklyn area.

I would like to sue my co-op and wanted advice.

On May , 4, 2007, I discovered that I have a bed bug infestation in my apartment. I have notified the co-op management and they notified the board. I have spoken to the exterminator and the neighbors in the building and found out that apartment on the 3rd floor had an infestation with bed bugs. My next door neighbor who lives right above the infested apartment started having the problem and also notified the management and the board months ago. Months later I discovered the problem myself. I was not notified of the problem and the management has never said that there is an infestation in our line of the building.

They sent me the buildings exterminator and he sprayed my apartment. I had to discard many personal belongings as well as a very expensive mattress. In addition I had to launder and dry clean all my clothing and drapes that also cost a fortune. In addition to that, I have been displaced from my apartment for already a month going on another month still paying maintainers of almost 600 and mortgage which is also around 600 every month.

The exterminator from the building came and treated the place. He returned a week later and treated the place again. I wasn't comfortable with returning to the house and when i came to inspect the apartment myself i found a live bug. I called the management again and they sent the same exterminator he treated my place again and returned a week later to check the place. When he was checking my place I found another bug on the ceiling crawling out of my light fixture. The exterminator was very surprised and then apologized that he didn't not treat the light fixtures and electrical outlets with chemicals. He then treated everything in my apartment again. The management told me to move in and the problem has been taken care off. That weekend I found another bed bug which was alive as well. The exterminator returned in another week and found 3 dead bugs. The exterminator and the management is trying to convince us that the problem is not existent. They are being very manipulative.

I have been bitten many times by bed bugs and I didn't know what was wrong with me. I went to the doctor and did a # of tests and found out that i am highly allergic to bedbugs and they can cause me respiratory problems. Since we found out about our problem I have been having medical problems, such as a feeling of fainting and after many tests my doctor diagnosed me with anxiety, which never happened to me before this problem. I can not sleep at night and I am very paranoid. I am still displaced from my home because i do not believe the problem was solved.

I would like to know what are my choices and if anyone can help me and let me know if I have a case since the co-op management and the board failed to notify the adjacent apartments of the problem and waited until it was too late and the adjacent apartment were infested.

I need advice if I have a case.

 

[FlyingRon]

Suing your co-op is suing yourself and they will use your money to defend themselves while you use your money to press the case. You can possibly get a judgement against the board but of course if they were smart your association will have an E&O policy to protect them against such abuse (if so you may run into further obstacles thrown up).

 

[Irina76]

Bed Bug Problem

I just spoke to the lawyer in another specialty and he thinks I have a case and need a real state attorney to represent the case on behalf of few apartments that ran into these problems.
He sas that my apartment is not habbitable because of that. And if i get together with other co-op owners I would have a case.

 

[seniorjudge]

I just spoke to the lawyer in another specialty and he thinks I have a case and need a real state attorney to represent the case on behalf of few apartments that ran into these problems.
He sas that my apartment is not habbitable because of that. And if i get together with other co-op owners I would have a case.

What did the co-op do to make you think they are liable for the bed bugs?

 

[seniorjudge]

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

I am a co-op owner and I reside in one of the co - ops in Brooklyn area.

I would like to sue my co-op and wanted advice.

On May , 4, 2007, I discovered that I have a bed bug infestation in my apartment. I have notified the co-op management and they notified the board. I have spoken to the exterminator and the neighbors in the building and found out that apartment on the 3rd floor had an infestation with bed bugs. My next door neighbor who lives right above the infested apartment started having the problem and also notified the management and the board months ago. Months later I discovered the problem myself. I was not notified of the problem and the management has never said that there is an infestation in our line of the building.

They sent me the buildings exterminator and he sprayed my apartment. I had to discard many personal belongings as well as a very expensive mattress. In addition I had to launder and dry clean all my clothing and drapes that also cost a fortune. In addition to that, I have been displaced from my apartment for already a month going on another month still paying maintainers of almost 600 and mortgage which is also around 600 every month.

The exterminator from the building came and treated the place. He returned a week later and treated the place again. I wasn't comfortable with returning to the house and when i came to inspect the apartment myself i found a live bug. I called the management again and they sent the same exterminator he treated my place again and returned a week later to check the place. When he was checking my place I found another bug on the ceiling crawling out of my light fixture. The exterminator was very surprised and then apologized that he didn't not treat the light fixtures and electrical outlets with chemicals. He then treated everything in my apartment again. The management told me to move in and the problem has been taken care off. That weekend I found another bed bug which was alive as well. The exterminator returned in another week and found 3 dead bugs. The exterminator and the management is trying to convince us that the problem is not existent. They are being very manipulative.

I have been bitten many times by bed bugs and I didn't know what was wrong with me. I went to the doctor and did a # of tests and found out that i am highly allergic to bedbugs and they can cause me respiratory problems. Since we found out about our problem I have been having medical problems, such as a feeling of fainting and after many tests my doctor diagnosed me with anxiety, which never happened to me before this problem. I can not sleep at night and I am very paranoid. I am still displaced from my home because i do not believe the problem was solved.

I would like to know what are my choices and if anyone can help me and let me know if I have a case since the co-op management and the board failed to notify the adjacent apartments of the problem and waited until it was too late and the adjacent apartment were infested.

I need advice if I have a case.

You are triple posting...stop it.

 

[Irina76]

Bed Bugs

I did not know where my case belongs. I am new to the site. I thought I would get more advice if I post in different categories.

To answer your question what did my co-op do to make me think that they are liable?

I believe to this day they did not take proper measures to get rid of the problem.
When I spoke to the lawyer and to 3 exterminator companies. They have told me that to properly treat a problem they have to exterminate all the apartments above, below and adjacent to the infested apartment. The management and the board did not do that. The infestation is now spread through out a 6 apartments in the building.

I realized that I have a problem a months ago when the co-op and the managent knew about the problem 4 months ago and waited. After they saw that the infestation is spreading they still did not do anything knowing the patern of infestation. I am the last of the 6 apartments that were infested.

I can not live in the apartment because i believe I still have a problem.

At this point the co-op asked me if i want to use my own exterminator to treat the problem and get them an estimate. They said they might partially pay for it maybe.

They are very manupulative and they are telling me I have no case and its not their fault and they did everything they could by sending their exterminator to me as soon as I reported the problem.

The problem is that they had to inspect my apartment along with others as soon as they found the infested apartment and prevent the problem from spreading. Instead they didnt not do anything. to this day some of my neighbors were not officially informed.

 

[You Are Guilty]

FWIW, I fail to see any culpability on the part of the co-op. The co-op is not a "landlord" in the traditional sense of the word. It is merely responsible for maintenance of the common areas of the building (i.e. anything that is not "personal property"). If the infestation started, say, in the hallway, the co-op would be on the hook. If it started with another shareholder, then your claim, if any, is against that shareholder.

Put another way, if your upstairs neighbor had the flu, and the people next door, above and below him caught the flu from him, you have no case against the Board.

That said, you appear to have your mind made up so file your lawsuit and please come back and let us know how it goes for you.

 

[Paddy Reagan]

There are too many variables in the situation you describe to predict how a judge would respond. The co-op management called in professionals to treat a specific pest control problem and assumed it would be solved. Because migration of these insects from unit to unit is not common in non-transitory residential buildings, delays in alerting other owners is probably understandable. To be successful in a legal action against the co-op, two issues must be addressed: First, affirmation that the board is responsible for pest control within individual units and second, that failing to notify other residents was a negligent act.

Most of us with experience related to the various types of common interest developments would tend to reject the responsibility issue. However, the relationships between residents (shareholders with proprietary leases) and boards of directors in New York cooperatives are unique--in many ways resembling those of tenants and landlords. In this context, the board must be more attentive to the common needs of residents than in most other condominium and HOA organizations.

 

[Irina76]

Bed Bugs Infestation

Thank you for all your advice.
I was wondering if someone can help me in assessiong what kind of lawyer would take this case? A real state lawyer or a lawyer in another speacilty?

The co-op - meaning the board and the managment knew that there is a horrible infestation in a few apartments and they did fail to address the issue in a responsible manner. The management told me that they deal with numerous buildings in New York and many of them have the same problems. This makes it even more difficult for me to understand their negligence in my building. Any professional management would consult a reputable extermination company and will understand that if one apartment is infested and exterminated, the pest will travel to another apartment. Unfortunetly they only exterminated 1 infested apartment and waited untill they git other complaints month later from the apartments above, below and adjecent. They knew about the problem from 2006 and failed to notify residents or check their apartments. That is a negligent act on the part of the management and the board. People have lost their belongings and besides personal belongins I haven't lived in my apartment for a month and paid mortgage and a huge maintenance.
The management denied my reimbursement request as well. Stating that the co-op is not responsible for personal belongings.
But are they responsible for the negligence of notifying people and inspecting their apartments?

I dont think You can compare this problem with a flue. If you never had the problem, you would have no idea what it is and how hard it is to deal with it.

 

[FlyingRon]

Do you fully understand what a co-op apartment was when you bought into this? As pointed out to you, this is not a rich fat cat landlord you are suing (if such do exist). You are suing an organization of yourself and your other co-op members. The management company is subservient to your co-op. The board is just other members elected by you. You can't just sit back as a member and expect everything to be done for you.

As I said, any attempt to collect against the co-op is going to be born by your and your co-members. The management company is most likely just going to assert they are working within the guidelines that the co-op laid out for them. The mgt. company is just someone employed by you and your co-members to do the drudge work that no member wants to do (and if you start suing board members randomly, you can be assured people will stop wanting to do that and your property value will suffer).

 

[OHlandlord]

In an apartment building, when one unit is infected with insects (especially with bedbugs or roaches), all the units need to be exterminated at the same time. Repeated treatments are necessary. Failure to treat one or more of the units only prolongs the problem. In an apartment building, this responsibility for treatment would lie with the owner/landlord. Although it was not the landlord's fault for the infestation, since he owns the building, he must maintain it.

A co-op is different. You are the owner of your co-op. The person responsible for the infestation is the owner of the unit that first brought in the bugs. The board is just a group of elected officials who are trying to keep the building in the best shape possible. They don't own the building (although some boards act as if they do). Yes, they should have treated all the units at the same time, but since they are not the responsible party, they attempted to handle the problems as they were informed of them. I don't think you will get very far in suing the board. I'd be suing the owner of that first apartment.

Co-ops are much like row houses. Each person owns their own house, but they are connected together. If your neighbor has a pest problem, you will likely get one too. If he sprays his place, the pests just migrate to your unit. The only solution is for everyone in the houses to spray on the same day.

Personally, I'd quit fighting the board. You can sue them, but as was said earlier, they just use your own money to defend themselves against you. I would ask the board to change their policy on notification and pest extermination.