Bed Bug Infestation in a multifamily property

[Jay Thomas]

I'm under contract for a fully occupied multifamily property in Chicago. I'm just learning that all the units have bed bugs. I have never dealt with bed bug before. How big of a problem is this. This is a 5 unit property. How can I remediate this problem while its tenant occupied?

[John Warren]

@Jay Thomas the dirty little secret in multifamily is that almost all of the bigger buildings in C and D class areas are infested with roaches and bed bugs. Fun I know. I have dealt with bed bugs in every building I have purchased in Berwyn and Cicero, and I now am the proud owner of a set of bed bug heaters. When you are dealing with bed bugs in a multi-unit building, there is not easy way to get rid of them in one treatment. This will be a several month process to make sure they were eliminated. Even with heat treatment, we still do traditional treatments which involve spraying chemical barriers and also using Cymexa dust in wall cavities as a desiccant. We have our maintenance guys do this as a part of the process as most pest control companies will not be able to dedicate the time to doing it everywhere in a larger building. 

Your tenants most likely will not cooperate, and the second dirty little secret is that one of them is the problem. No owner, property manager or landlord ever brought bed bugs to a building. You have a nasty tenant who you will want to remove, or the problem will come back again.