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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to want to get the hell out of here?

28 replies

FlyingSouth · 09/07/2012 22:51

Background: we have bedbugs. We have been struggling for 3 months to get rid of them, they might be gone, we don't know. Its cost us upwards of £800 so far, 4 treatments in (first guy was a charlatan and probably made matters worse). It's causing so much stress and depression to DH and I.

We are in rented accommodation. About 99% sure we brought them here with us, in retrospect signs were present before we moved, hence why we've footed the bill. But we are too scared to tell our landlord. We are seriously doing everything possible to eradicate them, dealing with a professional licensed company.

So, an opportunity to move has presented itself. We could go, get rid of all our furniture, anything that can't be thoroughly cleaned or washed at 60 degrees. Sentimental items into storage for 18 months. Its a massive decision. I just want to run away from it all.

Just feel a bit about potentially leaving bugs here. Also we could inadvertantly take them with us. If we tell our landlord, we'd possibly not get our deposit back, no reference. Replacing all our belongings just seems such a big step.

Oh and I'm due Dc2 in 11 weeks.

Should we be even considering this? I've had enough.

OP posts:

rainydaysarebad · 09/07/2012 22:56

Sorry you're having a baby soon, but I'd tell the landlord. Why didn't you tell them at the start? Why are you taking bedbugs around with you everywhere? You need a proper blitz from furniture to clothes to get rid of them. Even if you move you still might take them with you.

soozeedol · 09/07/2012 23:03

OMG...you poor souls...
I would definitely be going for the move of home...and doing as you have thought/said.

Let the landlord see the receipts for the extermination treatment work you have had done and get the hell out and let him deal with it from there....he can't blame you for bringing them...and he can see you have tried to have it dealt with...and should understand you have to go asap with impending baby coming, etc...

I think the place would need to be gutted out completely and seriously treated before these bugs are actually gotten rid of....and the risk from ajoining properties may have issues with them too as I think they can travel around prolifically.

I think you may have to ditch everything that can't be washed at high temps and leave everything else...even furniture...take it all to a dump and start again....it is extreme but it is the only way you can be sure you have left them behind...eggs etc...probably cling to everything and you won't know it til they develop....

Good luck and get out asap...leave it all in a skip and start again x

KatherineKavanagh · 09/07/2012 23:07

You need to Tell the landlord...

bejeezus · 09/07/2012 23:10

Hold up......I think all beds have bed bugs? Mites you mean? Or summat more sinister what is biting you?

bejeezus · 09/07/2012 23:15

Ok...just googled them. Yeuck. Sorry for you OP

bejeezus · 09/07/2012 23:17

Don't the companies you have had in, offer a guarantee?

I had Remtokil in for woodwork, and I think its a 10 year guarantee.....

So can't you call them back in to sort it out, at no extra cost?

geegee888 · 09/07/2012 23:34

Unless you bin everything, and I mean everything, surely you will bring them with you wherever you move to?

Whats the point in putting furniture into storage if its infested with bed bugs? Surely it will just cause other people's furniture to be infested too?

Why not call back the companies you have spent £800 on, as surely they will have provided some sort of guarantee for their work?

In the meantime, buy some remedies for them yourself and continue to treat. Do everything you can to eradicate them. I'd be washing things at a lot higher temperature than 60 degrees!

Think backwards and work out how you got them in the first place. Theres no point in going through this again.

What sort of place will you be able to rent without a landlord's reference?

Finally, I know mumsnetters consider landlords to be the spawn of the devil, but personally I feel really sorry for your landlord to have to deal with this, through no fault of his own. It may also affect your current neighbours and anyone else you have come into contact with.

holidaysarenice · 10/07/2012 01:27

Our tenant brought them in, he told us and the council who sprayed the house for him for free/smallish fee, I'm not just sure.

Tho your furniture will stink!

My suggestion is debug clothes and remove from premises, and anythin u want to keep. Then in one day all bedding, beds, teddies especially needs to be dumped. All areas propeerly cleaned, the carpets or rugs curtaind steamed and then the bombs things need set off! Its so much work but leave one and ur bk to square one.

Oh and u need to tell ur landlord imagine how angry they will be if u infect them or they carry it to another property.

MrsTerryPratchett · 10/07/2012 01:54

Does anyone near you do heat treatment? It is the only thing that seems to really work.

MrsTerryPratchett · 10/07/2012 01:57

Here is an example. I don't live in the UK so I don't know who does it there.

Original poster

FlyingSouth · 10/07/2012 07:33

Thank you for your replies.

rainydays we didnt tell our landlord to start with because we didn't realise how bad this problem is. We thought it was just a case of fumigating our bed and it be done. Oh how naive we were. As things have gone on its become a bigger and bigger scenario. We are not just taking them around with us everywhere, we didn't know we had them when we moved. What am I meant to do, not let myself DH or DD leave the house for the foreseeable future until we know they are gone?

geegee I feel sorry for my landlord too. They are good people and do not deserve this problem. I have nothing against them. We could very easily have blamed the whole problem on them and had them foot the bill, but I couldnt have done that in good conscience.

Unless you bin everything... Surely you will bring them with you wherever you move to well that's pretty much the point. We will be binning everything we own, bar clothes that can be hot washed and tumbled - 60degrees will kill them and eggs. And sentimental items, will go into storage for 18 months - that time frame they will die. They won't spread and infect others furniture - they only move if sleeping humans are nearby to feed off.

The whole house has been properly treated with the appropriate chemicals. Pest controllers offer guarantees in other types of pest but not bedbugs as they are notoriously hard to get rid of. Heat treatment is not an option in our situation, I've looked into it in depth.

Trust me I've researched these bastards so thoroughly.

Think backwards and work out how you got them in the first place. Theres no point in going through this again. really?? Because we didn't think of that. Any single person we have had contact with in the last year or so could have transferred them. I have an inkling they were present in our last property before we got there. Cannot prove it.

If we tell our landlord, we cannot move. We'd have no deposit, no reference. And our tenancy is up soon so likely nowhere to live with a 2 year old and a newborn. I'm also petrified that they'll take further action to try and recompense any further costs they incur. I want to do the right thing, but it is to our detriment.

Thank you for the words of sympathy and support. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Family treat us like lepers. I don't sleep. DH has turned into a paranoid wreck. Our relationship is straining. There seems no end in sight. Lying in bed last night my thoughts bordered on suicidal.

OP posts:

bejeezus · 10/07/2012 08:52

You can't in good conscious move out and leave this legacy for the next tenants and landlord....

You say you wouldnt wish this on your worst enemy

I would stay put, get rid of everything, rip out carpets. If you tell landlord, he may split cost of carpets with you...you don't have to tell landlord you brought them with you. Don't feel guilty about that, because if you just leave he will have to fit the bill anyway.

Will contents insurance pay for any of this?

Can you go on an extended holiday somewhere, whilst house is gutted?

olivestree · 10/07/2012 09:00

First of all, I am so so sorry for you Flying. It sounds like a terrible and expensive situation that I hope you get out of soon.

....now, is anyone else scratching reading this?

Treblesallround · 10/07/2012 09:03

We're landlords. If you told us about this we would claim on our insurance for the costs of resolving the problem, and the lost rent if we ended up with the house empty. We'd give you your deposit back, minus the excess on the insurance. We'd also give you a reference because it doesn't make you bad tenants, it could happen to anyone

If you moved out without telling us, and we ended up with an unlettable house, or complaints from the next tenants we'd be livid and would seek full recompense from you.

Talk to your landlord. And you're not leppers, just unlucky.

cleas · 10/07/2012 09:07

Try these
Www.bedbugsolutions.co.uk

Original poster

FlyingSouth · 10/07/2012 09:08

You're right bejeezus :(

Only thing is, theoretically after the next treatment a week today they should be gone. I just want out.

Could I really after all this time tell the landlords but make out we didn't bring them? Wouldn't they wonder why we had paid all that money and not said anything? We discovered them 6 weeks after moving here.

The place that has come up is bigger, better more spacious and cheaper. Feel like time is against us, dont have long till baby is here. For that reason a holiday is way out of the question!

OP posts:

cleas · 10/07/2012 09:09

Sorry, can't link... But they do heat treatment in the uk and guarantee.
Do you think they were in the building before you moved in?

Treblesallround · 10/07/2012 09:12

Why on earth would you try to make out that you didn't bring the bedbugs when you know that you did?

Original poster

FlyingSouth · 10/07/2012 09:12

I think we bought them here, we had a few signs before we moved that we didn't realise at the time. DH thinks they were here before we got here because our last place has no signs at the moment whatsoever. It just doesn't add up so can't be 100% sure either way.

OP posts:

Original poster

FlyingSouth · 10/07/2012 09:13

trebles that's precisely what I don't want to do. Although plenty of people have suggested it.

OP posts:

cleas · 10/07/2012 09:20

Well regardless of whether you want to tell your landlord you will need to get rid of the bugs before you move or you'll only take them with you anyway.

bejeezus · 10/07/2012 09:25

I don't think you even need to have a converrsation about where they came from. It's not about blame. And its impossible to actually know where they came from

Original poster

FlyingSouth · 10/07/2012 09:35

Thank you cleas, I've spoken to that company already. And yes, that is the dilemma.

trebles or any landlord reading really. Is that what most landlords would do? Claim off their insurance, give us a reference? It's a small town, I find it hard to see that they would give us a reference knowingly in case it were to come back at them? I don't know.

We have potentially got rid of them, there's just no way to know. They could resurface in a year. Where do I draw the line? I feel like we're cursed.

OP posts:

Treblesallround · 10/07/2012 09:44

That's why we have insurance, Flying. If you're as sure as you can be they've gone though you should move on, knowing that you've done everything you could.

cleas · 10/07/2012 10:04

Hi flying. When you say you are dealing with it, can I ask what you're doing? From experience when I had heat treatment it was a one off thing. I didn't throw any furniture away and have had no bugs since. So I don't quite understand why you'd have to do that. Are you just having sprays done? If so you seem to have spent an awful lot of money!!

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