bedbugs !! Legal Advice

[Richard Moreno]

So, This is what happened.

I just sold my house last week. I was going to sell and at the same time buy a multifamily, but in this competitive Boston market, we realized it was going to take much longer to find a good multifamily house to invest in. So we decided to find an apartment. We found an apartment building that offers a temporary lease, perfect!  So we thought..

We were to move in last Saturday. I hired a moving company that would bring our stuff Sunday morning ( Thank God ! )So Saturday came, I got the keys from the leasing office, and later that evening brought over food, a small roll up mattress, and some other small things. My wife was going to spend that night there with my son to clean up and be ready for when the movers get there. I went to work that night. My wife was there 2 hours when she called me hysterical that there was bedbugs everywhere! She counted at least 7 bedbugs crawling on the baseboard, walls, and carpet !!  So I left work and picked them up ASAP!

Next morning movers came and started to fill the truck as scheduled, but I had to direct them to a storage unit that I was lucky enough to find in such short notice. Then at 12 when the leasing office opened I went there and told them what happened and he said he can possibly move me into another unit, but my wife wanted nothing to do with these apartments anymore, so he agreed to terminate the lease. See we lived there years ago for 2 or 3 years and got bedbugs in one occasion, but we didn't think it would happen again.

So at this point we are homeless with all our belonging in storage, now the task of finding a hotel, that accepts dogs ( we have a small dog). And again we were lucky to find the Red Roof inn, theyre dog friendly.

5 Days later, after a little begging I was able to move into another apartment complex.

But now I feel that they should at least cover my expenses. I have moving expenses, storage, and hotel expenses, and not to mention all stress this situation has caused me and my family. They feel that they are not responsible for nothing and all they will reimburse me is what I paid to move in. So basically I got screwed !!   Can they get away with this ?

[Mike Cumbie]

Hi @Richard Moreno,

DISCLAIMER: Not legal advice by any means, just the ramblings of some dolt on the internet who should be ignored at all costs. Anything acted upon from this post is the sole responsibility of the person performing previously said action.

Honestly I think you should move on. If you do try and go to court you are going to have to prove there was bedbugs there. Realistically they can counter sue for you breaking the lease and leave you dealing with those costs. Now you are standing in front of a judge with all your costs in hand and they say "There wasn't any bedbugs, here is a form from a pest control expert who said the place is perfectly clean". We want to be paid for the breaking the lease and rent until we could find a renter. Also here is a signed form from the renter stating the place is fine and has zero issues with bedbugs.

EDIT: As a side note they also offered to give you a different unit to limit your losses so that you would be out very little but you choose not to go that route (Which is your choice) . However they went as far as they could in remedying the situation.

I wish you the best in whatever you decide.