Recently infested with bedbugs – can I terminate my lease?

By Mrs T

We have been living in our current apartment for over 4 years. At the beginning of August, one of our children started getting bitten by some kind of bug while asleep.
Not longer after that, I caught a live bedbug while watcihng TV after midnight. (It was walking on the couch – heading towards me!)
We submitted the ‘sample’ to the superintendent, who showed it to the exterminator, who in turn confirmed that it was indeed a bedbug.

We spent more than $1,000 on cleaning/washing clothes and bedding, buying mattress encasements and paying movers to pack everything into platsic bags or sealed boxes, so the exterminator could treat the unit.

The exterminator treated the living room and bedrooms, but did not seal cracks and crevices. He did not even touch the kitchen or the two bathrooms. (We were told that we did not have to pack anything in the kitchen or bathrooms.)
He merely sprayed pesticide in the bedrooms and living room and left small paper traps. The traps are so far apart that I think they are totally ineffective (each trap is placed about 10" from the next trap and hundreds of bedbugs could easily walk between them).
The exterminator said he would return in a week to check the traps, but if there were no bugs in the traps, he would deem the treatment effective.

This evening, I found a live bedbug on our living room wall. (The living room was treated 4 days ago.)
We are convinced that the treatment was not effective and that there are more bedbugs hiding in our unit, although we have not been bitten for the past 4 days.

Our questions is whether we can terminate our lease agreement (we renewed it at the beginning of July and have almost a full year until it expires) and not be held legally responsible for paying rent for the remainder of the contract.
We do not foresee the building management to take effective measures to exterminate bedbugs in our unit. (As explained above, the effectiveness of the methods used by the exterminator uses are highly dubious.) We are also unable to continue living with all our belongings packed up in boxes and bags. The children need to go to school, and I have to work at home.

We do not know whether any of our neighbors have been infested. (The superintendent said we were the only affected unit, but who knows? He might not be telling the truth, as I have run into the exterminator before on our floor.)

Related posts:

Holy Cow, we couldn't find any other related post. Sorry. :(

Recently infested with bedbugs – can I terminate my lease?

By Mrs T

We have been living in our current apartment for over 4 years. At the beginning of August, one of our children started getting bitten by some kind of bug while asleep.
Not longer after that, I caught a live bedbug while watcihng TV after midnight. (It was walking on the couch – heading towards me!)
We submitted the ‘sample’ to the superintendent, who showed it to the exterminator, who in turn confirmed that it was indeed a bedbug.

We spent more than $1,000 on cleaning/washing clothes and bedding, buying mattress encasements and paying movers to pack everything into platsic bags or sealed boxes, so the exterminator could treat the unit.

The exterminator treated the living room and bedrooms, but did not seal cracks and crevices. He did not even touch the kitchen or the two bathrooms. (We were told that we did not have to pack anything in the kitchen or bathrooms.)
He merely sprayed pesticide in the bedrooms and living room and left small paper traps. The traps are so far apart that I think they are totally ineffective (each trap is placed about 10" from the next trap and hundreds of bedbugs could easily walk between them).
The exterminator said he would return in a week to check the traps, but if there were no bugs in the traps, he would deem the treatment effective.

This evening, I found a live bedbug on our living room wall. (The living room was treated 4 days ago.)
We are convinced that the treatment was not effective and that there are more bedbugs hiding in our unit, although we have not been bitten for the past 4 days.

Our questions is whether we can terminate our lease agreement (we renewed it at the beginning of July and have almost a full year until it expires) and not be held legally responsible for paying rent for the remainder of the contract.
We do not foresee the building management to take effective measures to exterminate bedbugs in our unit. (As explained above, the effectiveness of the methods used by the exterminator uses are highly dubious.) We are also unable to continue living with all our belongings packed up in boxes and bags. The children need to go to school, and I have to work at home.

We do not know whether any of our neighbors have been infested. (The superintendent said we were the only affected unit, but who knows? He might not be telling the truth, as I have run into the exterminator before on our floor.)

Related posts:

Holy Cow, we couldn't find any other related post. Sorry. :(