Monthly Archives: August 2017

A new state law designed to battle bedbugs requires California landlords to provide tenants with written information about these blood-sucking, tenacious pests and how to report suspected infestations to the landlord.

The disclosure requirement took effect for new tenants July 1 and will apply to existing tenants Jan. 1.

The law also prevents landlords from showing or renting a vacant unit with an active infestation, and from retaliating against tenants who report bedbug problems. It does not require them to inspect rental units for bedbugs if they have not seen them or received a tenant complaint. But it does require them to notify tenants within two days of a pest inspectors findings. It also requires tenants to cooperate with the detection and treatment of bedbugs.

The law does not say what landlords must do when tenants complain. In California, however, residential leases have an implied warranty of habitability that requires landlords to maintain rental units in a condition fit for humans. That includes keeping it free of rodents and vermin, said Whitney Prout, a staff attorney with the California Apartment Association, which represents landlords.

Why bedbugs have their own law is that they are a harder pest to treat, Prout said. It requires early detection and integrated pest management between the landlord and tenant, because of how pervasively they can take over.

Bedbugs feed on blood, mostly human and usually at night. Adults are the size, shape and color of an apple seed. Eggs are the size, shape and color of a sesame seed, said Tami Stuparich, a vice president with California American Exterminator Co.

A baby bug, called a nymph, looks like an adult, but is pinhead-size and lighter in color. They turn reddish and elongated after a meal. Nymphs shed their exoskeleton five times before they become a breeding adult.

Unlike lice, bedbugs dont stay on people; they eat and run. Nor do they jump like fleas or fly. They can crawl or be carried from place to place on objects or people. Bringing in furniture from the street is a good way to get them. Because they are flat, they can hide and travel in cracks and crevices. (See article on one couples bedbug saga in San Francisco.)

They can move easily from unit to unit, and unless all affected units are treated together, theyll come back. Most places require more than one treatment.

Telltale signs include small red or brown fecal spots, molted skins, white, sticky eggs or empty eggshells. They are often found on mattresses, box springs, headboards, nightstands, linens, upholstery, walls and carpet edges.

Bedbugs do not carry disease, but some victims develop itchy red welts that could be mistaken for mosquito or flea bites. Others have no reaction, which makes them even harder to detect until theyre rampant.

Jennifer Brass found bedbugs in her San Francisco apartment in 2010. Their bites were extremely itchy and they lasted for a very long time in a very intensive way, she said. I still consider it one of the worst experiences of my life, more uncomfortable than childbirth without medication, said Brass, now a professor at Indiana State University.

Bedbugs were common in the United States before World War II, but essentially vanished in the 1940s and 1950s, thanks to DDT and other potent, long-lasting pesticides that could be bought over the counter, said University of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter.

They persisted elsewhere in the world, and decades after those pesticides were banned, made a comeback here. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, they started appearing in big-city hotels, stowing away in the clothes and luggage of international travelers. They soon spread to homes, offices, schools, libraries, anywhere they can find a meal.

They dont care about filth, like a cockroach. They feed on us, Stuparich said. Equal opportunity diners, they show up in single-room occupancy hotels and posh apartments.

Los Angeles ranked fourth and San Francisco ranked 10th on a list of U.S. cities where Orkin, a pest control company, performed the most bedbug treatments last year.

San Francisco has had a bedbug ordinance since 2012 that, in some ways, goes beyond what the state law requires.

If a prospective tenant asks about bedbugs, the landlord must disclose in writing the unit's bedbug infestation and abatement history, or lack thereof, for the previous two years.

Within two days of getting a bedbug complaint, the property owner or manager must hire a licensed pest control operator to investigate that unit and the ones above, below, next door and across the hall.

Its one of the few pests where we dont want any kind of do-it-yourselfer dealing with it, said Larry Kessler, principal health inspector with the citys Department of Public Health.

The San Francisco ordinance requires landlords to make available to tenants information on the signs and symptoms of bedbugs. Under the new state law, they will have to provide it. Many landlords have voluntarily included in lease agreements a bedbug addendum put out by the San Francisco Apartment Association. The California association has published a similar addendum for member use that complies with state law.

There are various ways to kill bedbugs. The lowest level is treating the affected areas with steam or pesticides, said Darren Van Steenwyk, technical director with Clark Pest Control. Another option is heating an entire room, apartment or house up to lethal temperature. Extreme cases might require tenting the building and fumigating.

The cost of each treatment depends on the labor involved but can range from hundreds to many thousands of dollars, Van Steenwyk said.

William Meyer, whose company WM Properties manages apartments in San Francisco, had to treat about 10 units in two buildings, one on Nob Hill, a couple of years ago. The cost was about $1,000 per unit. Some required up to six visits over six months.

Tenants are often required to vacuum thoroughly; put their clothes, linens and stuffed animals in the washer or dryer on the highest heat possible and store other belongings in airtight containers for extended periods.

State law requires landlords to repair, at their expense, damage or problems that compromise habitability, unless they can prove that it was the tenants fault.

We find that landlords claim they are not responsible, for bedbugs, said Deepa Varma, executive director of the San Francisco Tenants Union. In multifamily dwellings, its almost impossible to prove it was the tenants who brought in the bedbugs. Because of that, generally speaking, landlords are not able to pass those costs on to tenants if tenants know their rights and fight back.

Tenants in San Francisco who think their landlords are not cooperating should contact the health department. We will make sure the landlord does what is necessary, Kessler said.

Since 2012, the department has received 1,079 complaints about bedbugs in apartments and 1,104 about hotels, including single-room occupancy hotels.

Prout, of the California Apartment Association, said that if a bedbug issue comes up and there is a dispute as to whose fault it was, our recommendation (to landlords) is to treat first and deal with the issue of who is responsible later.

The question of who is at fault is one reason neither the state nor city bedbug laws will stop the spread of bedbugs, Potter said.

The holy grail of bedbug management is proactive inspection, he said. If you rely on tenants, you can have have ticking time bombs. People dont want to report them; theyre afraid of reprisal or having to pay for eradication.

New York City requires landlords to pay for bedbug extermination, Potter said, but no city or state requires them to do periodic inspections. If you are going on a complaint-based way of dealing with bedbugs, thats how we get into these horrific problems, Potter said. Some tenant has the mother lode, never reports them, and they disperse throughout the building.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender

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New California law aims to stop spread of bedbugs - San Francisco Chronicle

They are devious hitchhikers, uninvited houseguests of the worst kind.

Bedbugs - those tiny bloodsuckers that sneak into your home, hide in cracks and crevices and come out at night to feast. On you.

While bedbugs have been around just about as long as man has - they were found in Egyptian tombs and Aristotle wrote about them - their presence started making headlines a few years back, as hotels, apartments, dorms and homeowners battled the little buggers.

In Tucson, bedbugs weren't much of a problem until fairly recently, when local pest control professionals started noticing a steady rise in reports.

"It definitely seems to be an increasing problem," said Dawn Gouge, public health entomologist with the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

"But we certainly are getting better at learning how not to invite them home and what to do if we find out they have arrived."

So how do you keep bedbugs from invading your home? And what should you do if you suspect you are not alone in your bed?

"First of all, don't panic," Gouge said. "Breathe. Understand that bedbugs are not associated with unclean environments and they do not transmit disease. But they should be taken extremely seriously."

Signs that you may have bedbugs include finding the bugs themselves, eggs or excrement; small spatters of blood on your sheets and, in some people, red, itchy welts from an allergic reaction to their saliva.

Gouge said having bedbugs - which can live weeks, months or even a year between feedings - can be one of life's more stressful situations. Recent studies have linked bedbug infestation to reports of anxiety and even suicide.

While it takes dedication and persistence - and a really good pest control professional - you can win the war over bedbugs, Gouge said.

"The sooner you contact a pest management professional, the easier, the faster and the cheaper it will be," Gouge said. "There are no over-the-counter products that will eradicate bedbugs. You can kill them, but to truly eradicate them you need pest management professionals that have equipment, access to specialized products and the knowledge of how to use them."

She said frustrated victims of bedbugs can make the problem worse.

"A lot of the things people do are often far more damaging and dangerous than the bedbugs themselves," Gouge said. "People will put gasoline or rubbing alcohol around the edges of their mattress. They will spray pesticides on their bed, they will apply pesticide even to their own person. You should never do that."

She said following fairly simple rules can prevent infestation and minimize treatment.

Doug Brunner, contract administrator at University Termite and Pest Control in Tucson, said residents often wait until the problem is out of hand.

"Residents are reluctant to make that call because of the social stigma," he said. "It's the impression that if you have bedbugs you are obviously doing something wrong, and that is not the case."

He said people can pick up bedbugs anywhere and bring them home. "Bedbugs are everywhere. They are in restaurants, movie theatres, on trains and airplanes. bedbugs are kind of like hitchhikers. It's an accidental introduction."

University uses integrated pest management - everything from vacuuming to targeted pesticide application - to kill the bugs. Residents must follow a protocol that will keep pests from resurging. In general, treatment costs $70 an hour, with an average home requiring three to four hours, Brunner said.

Treatment is followed up two weeks later with reinspection and more treatment, if needed.

Vacuums and pesticide are not the only methods effective in killing bedbugs. Burns Pest Elimination also uses dogs and heat to find and eliminate bedbugs.

Sage Garvey, director of technical operations at Burns, said the company has 13 specially trained dogs that sniff out bedbugs statewide.

The team of canines includes labs, beagles, Bassett hounds and others trained on the scent of bedbugs.

"They are far better and faster at detecting bedbugs than humans," Garvey said. If dogs smell the bugs, they alert the handler, who makes visual confirmation.

Burns uses chemicals or heat - which is pricier - to kill bugs. Treatment can cost $400 to $2,000, depending on the size of the property and extent of the infestation.

Garvey said a convection oven is built in a home or business. The building is heated to 138 degrees for up to 10 hours, killing the bugs.

Garvey said the increase in bedbugs "took the pest control industry by surprise."

"We are just now probably at our peak in terms of incidence," he said.

Prevent bedbugs from taking up residency in your home:

Never move furniture from the curb-side or from a dumpster into your home.

Avoid moving secondhand furniture, especially a mattress or box spring, into your home.

Inspect rented furniture before accepting it into your home. Avoid renting bedroom furniture.

When traveling, check motel/hotel rooms before unpacking. Check the mattress, box-spring, and behind the headboard for signs of bedbug activity. Do not place luggage on the bed or on the floor near the bed. The safest place to stow luggage is in the bathtub or shower.

Upon returning home, leave your suitcase in the garage and machine-wash and dry all clothing at a high temperature or dry clean.

Reduce clutter. An uncluttered home is much easier to monitor and remediate.

Wash bedding weekly and dry items on high heat (140 degrees) for an additional 40 minutes after they are dry.

Do not take blankets, pillows or stuffed animals to hotels or other homes.

Consider placing bedbug monitoring devices such as ClimbUp Interceptor traps under bed legs.

Vacuum weekly at a minimum and discard bags or canister content into outdoor receptacles.

Fit mattresses and box-springs with encasings designed to prevent the movement of bedbugs in and out of bed sections. If an encasement tears, it should be replaced immediately.

More online

http://www.cals.arizona.edu/pubs/insects/az1563.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/bedbugs

http://www.bedbugbmps.org

Common bedbug myths

Myth: You can't see a bedbug.

Reality: You should be able to see adult bedbugs, nymphs and eggs with your naked eye.

Myth: Bedbugs live in dirty places.

Reality: Bedbugs are not attracted to dirt and grime; they are attracted to warmth, blood and carbon dioxide. However, clutter offers more hiding spots.

Myth: Bedbugs transmit diseases.

Reality: There have been no cases or studies that indicate bedbugs pass diseases from one host to another.

Myth: Bedbugs won't come out if the room is brightly lit.

Reality: While bedbugs prefer darkness, keeping the light on at night won't deter these pests from biting you.

Myth: Pesticide applications alone will easily eliminate bedbug infestations.

Reality: Bedbug control can only be maintained through a treatment strategy that includes a variety of techniques plus careful monitoring. Proper use of pesticides may be part of the strategy, but will not by itself eliminate bedbugs.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Did you know?

In 2011, Arizona joined several other states enacting bedbug legislation. The legislation assigns specific responsibilities to landlords and tenants in multifamily housing. This law does not apply to a single-family residence. Landlords are required to provide existing and new tenants with educational materials on bedbugs. Additionally, landlords are prohibited from knowingly leasing a bedbug-infested residence. The legislation requires tenants to notify the landlord of a bedbug infestation.

If you detect bedbugs:

Do not panic.

Call a pest control professional.

Do not move items in or out of infested rooms, including electronics, which can harbor pests.

Do not use foggers or bug bombs. Certain products encourage the movement of bugs into wall voids, making remediation more challenging and expensive.

Do not host visitors while you are battling bedbugs.

Source: University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and UA entomologist Dawn Gouge

Contact local freelance writer Gabrielle Fimbres at gfimbres@comcast.net

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Bed bug bites a major hazard in Tucson, Phoenix | | tucson.com - Arizona Daily Star