Latest news with #bedbugs
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘It was not really human at all': policing the worst of Dublin's rental market, with its bed bugs, overcrowding and no leases
Julia Langneck was full of hope and excitement when she moved from Brazil to Dublin to learn English at 18 years of age. Within months of arriving in the country she would find herself living in a bedbug-infested bedsit, sharing a room with four other people and paying almost €400 a month for the privilege. There were eight people sharing one bathroom on the ground floor of the three-storey building on Bolton Street in Dublin's north inner city. They were allocated one shelf each in a shared fridge, one cupboard each in the kitchen and slept in bunk beds in two separate rooms. 'It was not really human at all; it was really terrible,' says Langneck. READ MORE She recalls watching a bedbug crawl across her phone one night, and sleeping in the livingroom for fear of being bitten. 'My two housemates had bruises and bites all over their body, and we had to pay for it to be cleaned,' she says. There were eight people sharing one kitchen on the ground floor of the three-storey building on Bolton Street in Dublin 1. Photograph: Julia Langneck When the situation became unbearable, Langneck decided to move out, but her landlord, Renato Passos, withheld her deposit. She brought a case against him to the Residential Tenancies Board, the rental market regulator and arbiter of landlord-tenant disputes. The board ordered him to pay the deposit and damages. It would not be the last time he would have dealings with the regulator. [ Dublin landlord hit with largest-ever RTB fine over failure to register tenancies Opens in new window ] Sources within the RTB this week gave The Irish Times an insight into how they investigate rogue landlords and what they have seen vulnerable tenants go through. Inside the RTB, a team of investigators work like a detective unit to turn tip-offs into tangible prosecutions under powers afforded to it in 2019. They report a pattern in their findings: landlords with multiple properties, the subdividing of dwellings, overcrowded units and the absence of lease agreements. They regularly find vulnerable tenants, who have often just arrived in Ireland with no real understanding of their tenancy rights, paying high rents in substandard accommodation and being threatened with eviction or being moved around to different locations with no notice and seemingly no other option. Part 7A of the Residential Tenancies Act was enacted in 2019 and gives powers to the RTB to investigate improper conduct by landlords. Under the Act the RTB can appoint 'authorised officers' to investigate complaints and gives them extensive powers of entry and search, as well as power to compel people to provide information. The outcome of the investigation is sent to a 'decision maker' within the RTB, who decides if improper conduct has occurred. A financial sanction can then be imposed on the landlord, and must be confirmed by the Circuit Court. Details of the sanctions – and the landlord who received them – are then published on the RTB website. Tenants were sleeping on beds on the floor of the bar area of what was once Buck Whaley's nightclub on Leeson Street While Langneck's case was taken through its disputes process, the RTB subsequently began its own independent investigation into Passos when media reports detailed serious overcrowding and unstable tenancies in properties he was leasing on Leeson Street in Dublin 2. In November 2024 this resulted in the RTB's largest ever sanction, with the company run by Passos, Sweet Home Accommodation Ltd, being fined €22,000 for a breach of rental laws at six city-centre properties under his control. Investigators established that he had failed to register 20 tenancies in properties on Leeson Street, Middle Abbey Street and Upper Abbey Street. During its investigation the RTB discovered Brazilian students were being targeted through language schools and on social media about properties Passos did not actually own but was subletting. The tenancies were very short term, only a few months in duration, and rents were on average €500 per month. Tenants were sleeping on beds on the floor of the bar area of what was once Buck Whaley's nightclub on Leeson Street. There was extensive overcrowding at this property and at multiple other properties run by Passos, with bunk beds crammed into makeshift apartments, mattresses laid on floors and livingrooms converted into bedrooms. In one property there were 15 people sharing one kitchen. Investigating this case proved particularly difficult for the RTB because almost all of the tenants had moved out, often back to Brazil, by the time the case started. Significant time was spent by investigators tracing down these tenants, calling, emailing and chasing them by any means possible to try to get their evidence on the record. Eventually they gathered enough responses to ground a case, noting the most striking thing about their evidence was that these people did not know they were tenants, nor that the landlord couldn't move them out in the morning, nor that they were entitled to privacy and space in their own home. Sweet Home Accommodation Ltd is now in liquidation and the RTB is not aware of any outstanding cases against Passos. Asked to comment on the investigations, Passos responded to say the company was no longer operating. While Passos engaged with the RTB investigators and was co-operative in their investigation, other landlords have proven much more difficult to track down. Serving the notice of investigation on Marc Godart proved particularly difficult Controversial Luxembourg landlord Marc Godart and his company Green Label Ltd has been issued several sanctions by the RTB, following the conclusion of multiple investigations into his conduct. The Irish Times has investigated his rental property interests over several years, finding repeated instances of overcrowded accommodation and unlawful evictions in his sprawling Irish rental portfolio. However, sources within the RTB say that serving the actual notice of investigation on him proved particularly difficult. An investigation cannot continue unless the board can prove this notice was received by the landlord, and so landlords often do their best to evade receiving it. The first line of defence is often hiding behind multiple different company names, requiring the regulator to trawl through company records to establish the person behind the front. In Godart's case, investigators found letters were returned to them because the letterbox of his registered address had been blocked up. When investigators called to hand over the letter in person, they found the office was on an upper floor of a multi-unit block that they could not access. In the end, they waited outside the office on five occasions in order to gain trust with those coming and going, who eventually let them in and allowed them to push a letter under the door of the registered address. The RTB is keen to emphasise its persistence in investigating improper conduct in the rental market, and latest figures show the number of sanctions it is securing is growing at a steady rate. In 2024 it published 75 sanctions, with a value of just over €238,000. This is almost four times higher than what it gathered in 2023, at €64,360. Julia Langneck: 'I really love Ireland, but accommodation is such a big issue' Julia Langneck says she is grateful for the investigations into Passos, who she feels made her time in a foreign land far more difficult than it needed to be. 'You feel that someone from your country is going to help you, because you just arrived and everything is hard, but it was totally the opposite,' she says. 'He just kind of used us to get money. 'It's really upsetting, because you think you just crossed the ocean to another country to try a better life, and then you meet someone from your own country, and you think that person is going to help you, but definitely not.' After six years in Ireland, she returned to Brazil this summer to be with her boyfriend, Deliveroo driver João Ferreira. Ferreira lost part of his right leg after being seriously injured when he was hit by a Garda vehicle on the M50 in 2023. He is awaiting more surgeries in his home city of São Paulo. As the couple adapts to the realities of this new life, Langneck reflects on her time in Ireland. 'When people ask me, I say I really love Ireland, but accommodation is such a big issue there. In the end I got a nice apartment, a nice job – after years of worry, I felt like it was worth it in the end.'
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
‘Travelodge tried to silence me with £89 after I was attacked by bed bugs'
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our Consumer Champion is available to help. For how to contact her click here. Dear Katie, For my birthday, I stayed at the Leicester City Centre Travelodge on May 26 for one night, and suffered the most dreadful shock during the night. I started feeling itchy, and thought something was biting me. When I searched the bed sheets, I found they were riddled with bed bugs. As it turns out, the room was severely infested, and not in any way fit for guests to stay in. I reported it to reception the next morning, where a staff member reviewed the photos and videos that I took. She was very apologetic, and said the manager would get in touch that same day to arrange compensation. However, no one ever did. Not only was this a horrible taint on my birthday, but I've also got underlying health issues including diabetes, which means my skin doesn't heal as fast as other people's. The stress of all this has seen my diabetes markers increase, and I have to seek medical advice. After chasing a few times, someone from Travelodge's customer services team finally responded. He confirmed that 'an infestation of pests was found in your room', which has apparently since been treated. He offered a full room refund of £38.99, as well as £50 compensation, but only if I agreed to a confidentiality clause preventing me from telling anyone about the incident or posting online. Quite honestly, this feels really off to me. Do you think this is a reasonable offer considering what happened? – Anon Dear reader, I was so sorry to hear that your birthday night away was ruined by this infestation of micro predators that feed on human blood during the night. Following the initial horror of discovering the room was severely infested with the pests, you've been left with scores of itchy red bites all over your skin. Possibly due to your diabetes, these have not healed after a few weeks, and since your wedding is coming up in just a couple of months, you are extremely stressed about them disappearing in time for your big day. Given the stress caused, you feel Travelodge's offer of £88.50 – if you sign a confidentiality clause to say you won't tell anyone about it – is unacceptable, and I completely agree with you. Especially after the way your serious complaint was pushed into the long grass and ignored. In fact, I have rarely heard of a company asking anyone to sign a confidentiality agreement for such a laughable amount of money before, so I was more than happy to take up your case. I told Travelodge that I felt the amount of compensation was far too low, and that you would not be happy to remain silent about your experience or any compensation you receive. You had already told me for a start, and I was planning to write an article about it in a national newspaper. It got back to you with a significantly higher offer of £500, which it said was 'full and final'. You asked me whether I thought this was fair, and I said I felt this amount certainly felt more proportional to the degree of suffering you had been subjected to. However, I warned you under no circumstances to accept the offer as 'full and final'. This was because there was now a very real risk that you could have inadvertently taken the bed bugs home and your own bedroom could be infested. After all, this is how bed bugs are spread – it's not necessarily because of poor hygiene or uncleanliness. Once they take hold in homes, they can be a nightmare to exterminate, potentially costing thousands of pounds to remove. So you replied saying you would accept the £500 on the basis that you reserve the right to bill Travelodge should a subsequent infestation arise at your home. Travelodge came back and offered to send out a pest control expert to your home to proactively inspect it and treat any infestation it finds, which we were both very happy to accept. However, there was a catch – it was not prepared to remove the confidentiality clause. I phoned its press office to let it know I was running this story with all the details, meaning the clause was pointless. Their reply was: 'Policy is policy.' Happily, just before this article went to press, common sense prevailed. Travelodge changed its mind and dropped the need for confidentiality from the agreement. It is still happy to pay you the compensation though, and organise the pest control visit. You have accepted its terms and will move on with your life. I wish you all the best with your upcoming nuptials, and sincerely hope the itchy bites are gone by then. A Travelodge spokesman said: 'We are very sorry to hear about the customer's recent stay with us. The safety and wellbeing of our customers is always our priority and we have robust prevention measures in place for bed bugs, an issue that affects the hospitality industry. 'Instances of bed bugs are extremely rare in our hotels, and we train our housekeeping colleagues to be vigilant and to spot early signs wherever possible. 'We have carried out a thorough investigation into the matter, apologised and offered her a gesture of goodwill. We hope that we can welcome her back to our hotels in the future and reinstate her faith in our brand.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Entire Boston condo complex on notice after 100,000 bed bugs found in unit occupied by hoarder: ‘It's disturbing'
Residents in a Boston -area condo complex are frustrated and horrified after learning that more than 100,000 bed bugs had infested their neighbor's home, and were spreading to theirs. Some residents of the Brookline, Massachusetts condo community have taken to cleaning out their units and throwing away anything that is or might be contaminated by bed bugs. One resident, Richard Rubin, told NBC 10 that the entire thing is "disturbing." According to the management at Concorde Condominiums, one of Rubin's neighbors has approximately 100,000 bed bugs in her apartment alone. Brookline's department of health said that the unit is occupied by an elderly woman with mental health and hoarding issues. The department told NBC 10 that the infestation in her unit is one of the worst it has ever seen. In May, inspectors saw the woman's condo and condemned it. The town determined that the unit was "unfit for human habitation." During their search, inspectors found bed bugs living on the woman's doors, walls, ceilings, hallways, and floors. On top of the bugs, the kitchen and bathroom were not even accessible to the woman due to the amount of trash piled up inside. "The danger to the life or health of any occupants is so immediate that immediate condemnation is ordered," the town wrote about the unit. Experts from Dewey Pest and Wildlife were called in to assist in the inspection and called the condo "deplorable." 'Conditions are best described as deplorable,' an entomologist with the service wrote, according to Brookline News. 'Most inspectable surfaces and items in the unit have been heavily contaminated by bedbugs and their feces.' Despite the order, the property management company still had to fight to get control of the unit from the woman. A judge ultimately sided with the property management at the condo and the woman who owns the unit was given a two week deadline to clean up her condo. She failed to clean the condo by the deadline, which gives the property management company permission to go in a clean it themselves. Property management told NBC 10 it plans to go into the unit next week, and it expects that practically everything inside will have to be thrown away. It is unclear what will happen to the condo owner after that, but property management at the complex hopes local government officials will be able to assist her. It's been two months since the situation came to light at the condos, and that's been enough time for the bed bugs to spread. According to the property management, the insects have spread to at least seven other units in the building. Rubin told NBC 10 that two residents have completely moved out over the issue. "It's very frustrating to a lot of tenants, and it causes a lot of aggravation," Rubin said. Rubin previously attended a Brookline Select Board meeting where he expressed his frustration at what he believed to be a lack of action on the part of local officials. 'As a building, we cannot get social services to go in and do anything. We don't have the power. We don't have the clout. You guys do. But nobody will exercise that power. Nobody will send somebody in,' he said. Town Administrator Charles Carey said the town couldn't have gone in any earlier without first obtaining a court order, and that now that the judge's deadline was passed, it could move to assist the residents. Another resident reportedly had a bed bug bite that became infected. Though that bite has since healed, the individual reportedly still have around 40 bites on his body, according to Brookline News. The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said it was difficult to sleep knowing that overnight he'd be feasted on by insects. 'Just sleeping at night knowing you're getting eaten alive is unsettling,' he told the paper. Bed begs can cause swollen, red, itchy bites, can infest beds, couches, chairs, and clothing, and are notoriously difficult to fully exterminate from a home or apartment unit.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists discover surprising cause for rapid increase in bedbug population: 'The bugs spread with them'
Scientists have discovered a surprising connection between the rise in civilizations and a subsequent increase in bedbug populations. Though they're not known to transmit diseases, the pests can contribute to sleep and mental health issues. As the Guardian reported, a new study by an international team of researchers found that bedbugs could likely be "the first urban pest insect," as their numbers exploded when humans began expanding across the globe and building cities. Dr. Warren Booth, an urban entomologist at Virginia Tech and a co-author of the research, said that when human settlements first emerged around 10,000 years ago, it created the ideal conditions for the blood-sucking parasites to thrive. "When we started to live in cities, we brought all these people together, and they all had their own bedbugs with them," Booth said. "And then, as civilisation spread across the world, the bugs spread with them to the point where they're now ubiquitous in human society." For the study, which was published in Biology Letters, the team compared the genetic material of 19 bedbugs from the Czech Republic and discovered that populations associated with both bats and humans — two common hosts for bedbugs — started declining in the midst of the last ice age, about 45,000 years ago. However, their populations experienced a "dramatic" rise around 8,000 years ago, shortly after humans migrated into big cities. While bedbugs are not generally considered to be harmful, they can cause discomfort and annoyance, especially if you're dealing with an infestation. Plus, some people experience minor symptoms, including itching and irritation, red, swollen bumps, and even allergic reactions that require treatment. Not to mention, knowing you have bedbugs crawling around your sheets can lead to insomnia and poor well-being. Having to replace bedding and potentially seek professional help to eradicate them is also a major hassle. However, the elephant in the room is that soaring bedbug numbers and the shifting climate have more to do with each other than you'd think. Warmer temperatures and higher humidity levels can accelerate bedbug life cycles and lead to more frequent reproduction. Additionally, a hotter climate provides the ideal conditions for pests to expand their ranges and colonize areas they previously could not survive in. Changes in the climate can also disrupt natural predators or competitors of bedbugs, further contributing to their successful reproduction. While bedbugs don't directly harm the planet, the need to control or eliminate them often involves the use of pesticides, which can damage ecosystems and hurt wildlife. In the grand scheme of things, bedbugs may be relatively harmless compared to other pests, but bugs such as mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas are contributing to an alarming rise in vector-borne illnesses — including malaria, Lyme disease, and typhus — around the globe. Do you worry about getting diseases from bug bites? Absolutely Only when I'm camping or hiking Not really Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Prevention is the best cure, as they say, so regular cleaning and decluttering around your home will help keep the bedbugs at bay. If you have an infestation, make sure to thoroughly wash and dry bedding on high heat, use steam or heat treatments, or call for professional help if necessary. Keeping your home clean with natural cleaning products such as baking soda and vinegar is also a simple, affordable solution to prevent (or at least lessen) the likelihood of attracting bedbugs. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Check those sheets: This Georgia city is one of the worst in US for bed bugs
A city in Georgia has landed on a list no city wants to top, the top 10 bed bug-infested cities in the U.S. The study, by Terminix, is based on the number of bed bug control services across the country. With Atlanta consistently near the top, experts say residents and travelers alike should take extra precautions to avoid them. Here is what we know. According to the study, Atlanta takes the No. 6 spot, making it the most bed bug-prone city in Georgia. Philadelphia New York Cleveland-Akron (Canton) Los Angeles Dallas - Ft. Worth Atlanta Houston Washington, D.C (Hagerstown) San Francisco - Oak - San Jose Indianapolis Bedbugs are tiny pests capable of causing significant disruption with just one infestation. These small, brown, oval-shaped bugs spread rapidly. Adult females produce 200-500 eggs over their 6-12 month lifespan. Bedbugs were eradicated in the middle of the 20th century but made a triumphant return as the human population began to travel more, according to the UC Riverside Center for Invasive Species Research. Today, they can be found in dark, tight, hidden spaces. Here are some ways you can protect yourself and your belongings against infestation: Reduce clutter Vacuum frequently Keep your belongings away from others' Seal cracks Check and clean secondhand furniture and clothes Other than checking for the live bugs themselves, look for signs of: Reddish stains from bedbugs being crushed Dark spots from bedbug excrement Eggs, eggshells and shedding skins Wash bedsheets, clothing, linens and curtains in hot water. Then, put them in the dryer on the hot setting for at least 30 minutes. Use a stiff brush on mattress seams to remove bedbugs and their eggs. Vacuum your bed and the surrounding area. Place the vacuum cleaner bag in a plastic bag and put it in a trash can outside. Encase your mattress in a bed bug mattress cover and keep this on for at least a year since bed bugs can survive up to that long without feeding. Repair cracks in walls or plaster and glue down peeling wallpaper to limit hiding places. Get rid of clutter around the bed. While these tips can help, using chemicals is the most effective way to exterminate bed bugs. WebMD suggests hiring an experienced exterminator for the best results. Vanessa Countryman is the Trending Topics Reporter for the the Deep South Connect Team Georgia. Email her at Vcountryman@ This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia city ranks worst in America for bed bugs. Check your sheets
