Tenants question billing for bed bug infestation

SEATTLE — Tenants in South Seattle have been billed hundreds of dollars to eradicate bed bugs from their units, a cost that they and city officials do not believe they should be responsible for.

Allahtash Chloe Ross, who lives at Kingway Apartments, said she’s dealing with her fifth bed bug infestation in as many years.

She showed KIRO 7 two previous payments for treatments in the past, and a new bill for the heat treatment her unit is about to receive.

A day after KIRO 7 investigated the circumstances and talked to the apartment management, Ross said she was told she no longer had to pay her current bill.

On Thursday, Ross told KIRO 7, “Every night, when you put your kids down for the night, you know they’re getting bitten.”

Her three daughters now sleep on one mattress, to avoid the bug-ridden bed frame, and to avoid the living room. The living room is currently clear of bugs, and Ross knows that the bugs will simply follow where humans go.

She has already replaced her living room sofa twice, after previous infestations.

By state law, a landlord is responsible for all pest control costs unless an incident is deemed to be the tenant’s fault.

Bryan Stevens, a spokesperson for the Seattle Department of Planning and Development, said “It’s very difficult, especially with bedbugs, to prove who’s at fault. They travel between walls, between floors, between common areas.”

Ross said she cannot move from her unit, because her Section 8 voucher has assigned her to this particular apartment complex.

Stevens said tenants should contact DPD if they feel they’re being asked to pay for pest control, or if they’re being evicted for not paying those bills.

“It’s really almost an incentive for the landlord to manage it themselves so it doesn’t move to the other units in the building,” Stevens said.

DPD does not have any enforcement authority to stop a landlord from charging a tenant for pest control. Rather, he gave the following resources for tenants:

• KCBA Neighborhood Legal Clinics – (206) 267-7070
• Legal Action Center – (206) 324-6890
• King County Housing Justice Project – Walk in clinic for evictions at King County Superior Courthouses Community Information – 2-1-1
• Tenants Union – (206) 723-0500

Stevens said if the tenant refuses to pay, and the landlord begins an eviction process, DPD can then step in.

DPD can ask the landlord to withdraw the eviction notice, or be fined. Even if an eviction notice is withdrawn, the record of an eviction process remains permanent on a tenant’s record, according to a housing lawyer.

Now Ross will not have to deal with that possibility, because her apartment management has said she’s no longer responsible for the bill.

Bellwether, who manages the Kingway Apartments, has a lease addendum which states tenants will be billed if the pests appear due to their actions or neglect.

The executive director, Doug Daley, sent KIRO 7 their rules on Thursday, which show that a tenant must fall under both of the following circumstances to be billed:

1. The resident has had one or more treatments for bed bugs, and the unit has been determined to be free of bed bugs by a post-treatment inspection;
2. A new infestation occurs and it is an isolated case, i.e., an inspection of the units above, below and on either side of the infested unit does not find any other units to be infested with bed bugs.

Daley said that while he did not know of the specific circumstances of Ross’s case, he would ask for the area to be inspected again to see if the bed bug problem is more widespread.

Ross’ neighbor showed KIRO 7 bed bugs she had collected in a bottle, and bed bugs lining her children’s mattresses.

“We are proactive in addressing pest control issues.  We perform regular unit inspections (preventative treatment for cockroaches twice a year and canine inspections for bed bugs in every unit at least twice a year), and we respond immediately to reports of any kind of pest,” Daley wrote to KIRO 7.

Daley also said that Bellwether spends in excess of $80,000 per year for bed bug inspections and treatments at their properties.

KIRO