How To Get Rid Of Fleas, Landlord Won’t Help

By the time colder weather came in November the fleas were disappearing so we thought we were getting rid of them. When we hadn’t seen any fleas for almost a month we got a kitten after Christmas. We made absolutely sure the kitten did not have fleas before we brought her home and gave her Front line and quarantined her in our bathroom for 24 hours to ensure that if she had fleas they would die before she was introduced to the apartment.

Five months went by without a problem and then when it started getting warmer out, guess what? The eggs hatched and we had fleas again. I tried the same things we had used before to get rid of the fleas, but none of it helped. I remembered that our handbook said something about the exterminator. So I got it out and right in the paragraph on exterminators, it says they are a provided service for the residents! Nowhere does it say, “with the exception of fleas.” I went to the leasing office in July before my husband left for deployment training and told them because I did not have pets when the fleas became a problem and the manual said it was provided and I was not responsible for any fee. They agreed and told me the exterminator would be out the next day. Well I get a call from the maintenance guy the next day saying, “I couldn’t make it today, but I will be there tomorrow to bomb your apartment. This will be complementary so I won’t charge you a fee but next time you will have to pay.” I shrugged it off thinking at least the bombs would help. They didn’t. My apartment was bombed a few days before my husband was scheduled to leave and I vacuumed my butt off, we have a small 600 sq ft apartment so I made an effort to vacuum five times a day.

Well, my husband left and the fleas were still not gone. They weren’t as bad as before, so the bombs helped a little bit, but fleas get out of control quickly! I left for vacation with my family for seven days and when I got home there was a full-blown infestation! I couldn’t even walk the 15 feet from my front door to my kitchen without having to pick off 20+ fleas from my shoes and jeans.

I marched myself down to the leasing office…with fleas still attached to me and told them something had to be done because my apartment was not inhabitable. Something clicked in their brains and they realized it was serious when they saw fleas biting my arms and jumping to the carpets in their office. They told me the exterminator would be out. I had to go stay at a friends house though because I would have probably gone in to anaphylactic shock. The exterminator finally came on August 19. The treatment did not help much and I still could not stay at the apartment, but I went back to vacuum twice a day. I also asked for a re treatment and was told I would have to pay. I again told them I did not want to pay because of the wording in the manual and because my cat is not the reason the fleas were there, they were in the carpets when we moved in. They told me they would call me and let me know what they decided to do.  I never received a call, but the following Thursday, the 26th, the exterminator knocked on the door as I was vacuuming. I told him I had not known he was coming and asked if he knew if I had to pay him, he said, “there is never a charge for re treatment.” I asked him to come back the next day because I had to go to work and did not want him there alone. So I waited the next day after vacuuming in my flea infested apartment and he finally showed up at 3 pm to spray.

During all of this I was staying with a friend but could not stay after the 27th. The re treatment helped, but there were still a ridiculous amount of fleas in my apartment. The leasing office agreed to put me up in a hotel until Sunday morning but after that I had to go home and wait to talk to them until Monday. When I went home that Sunday, there were not nearly as many fleas, I only saw about 10 that afternoon and the next day was about the same. Fleas multiply quickly though so I asked them if the exterminator could come one more time. They said he could not come for six or seven weeks.

So here I am, almost five weeks later, covered in flea bites again because the exterminator can’t come and the office won’t replace the carpets. My husband and I have spent almost $300 on bombs, sprays and powders and on a military salary we are at the end of our rope. The fleas have been here for a year and no they will not be able to hatch after November, but I cannot live here until then!

I am just wondering what I can do to make the leasing office see they need to do something more than spray their carpets? They are probably going to replace them when we leave anyway because of a stain in the middle of the room (thank you husbands best friend….ugh). So I don’t see why they can’t just do it now and take it out of our security deposit…if they have to replace them when we move again I don’t care if I pay I just want these fleas gone! I am tired of being covered in bites and itchy ALL the time because of these bugs!

Do we have any legal ground to stand on??

Thanks for the help!!!

MJ