City says it has addressed over 370 pest complaints since last August<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
After living with bed bugs for months, Esther Stam says it’s not\u00a0only the persistent bites and sleepless nights that are\u00a0“horrendous” but also how difficult it is\u00a0to get\u00a0help.<\/p>\n
The Hamilton tenant has tried\u00a0everything she can think of to rid her apartment on West Avenue of the tiny, “disgusting” pests she first noticed on Aug. 20, 2023, she said.<\/p>\n
She said she notified her property manager at Blackbird Property Group right away,\u00a0as recommended by the city<\/a>, and provided photo and video evidence of the\u00a0bugs and bites, according to emails seen by CBC Hamilton.<\/p>\n
As of this week, the bugs were still there, she said.<\/p>\n
Throughout the fall, Stam said her\u00a0living conditions and “mental anguish” felt unbearable, as the bed bugs multiplied by a “ridiculous” amount. Bed bugs crawled across her desk as she worked from home, and in her bathtub, she said.<\/p>\n
“We all just want to live in our beloved homes and have our property standards met,” she wrote to the bylaw officer in an email Oct. 2.<\/p>\n
She no longer had people over,\u00a0avoided seeing family, and put her clothes on her balcony to keep them free of bed bugs, only to have them all stolen, Stam said.<\/p>\n
It took over three months for a pest control company hired by Blackbird Property Group to spray her apartment twice in November.<\/p>\n
Stam stayed with a friend for a couple of months following the treatments, and returned a few weeks ago. After her first night back, she said she woke up with\u00a0three bed bug bites on her leg and is again trying to compel her landlord to spray the building.<\/p>\n
“I am beside myself that the building infestation continues to grow,” she wrote to the\u00a0landlord\u00a0on Jan. 23.<\/p>\n
“Excuses aside, you still have not treated the building as you should, not once and it’s about time you do because forcing people to live like this is beyond humane.”<\/p>\n
Over a week later, and after CBC Hamilton contacted the landlord\u00a0for the story, the property manager scheduled an inspection of Stam’s unit on Thursday that confirmed there were bed bugs, Stam said.<\/p>\n
Landlords are required to keep buildings free of pests, including bed bugs, and pay for treatment, according to Hamilton’s bylaw.<\/p>\n
Under provincial legislation, they’re required to keep buildings in a state of good repair and comply with health and safety standards.<\/p>\n
Oliver St. John owns the building and said he and the property manager\u00a0“always act on every complaint” and he told CBC Hamilton that he\u00a0doesn’t believe that there is\u00a0a bed bug infestation.<\/p>\n
If Stam actually did have bed bugs in the fall, he said, it’s because she brought them into her unit intentionally and then wouldn’t let the pest control company enter her unit. Asked why she would do that, he said she’s trying to get a “buy out” \u2014 money to leave \u2014 and doesn’t actually live there\u00a0anymore.<\/p>\n
Stam said none of St. John’s\u00a0allegations are true, the bed bugs infestation is\u00a0real\u00a0and she’s definitely still\u00a0living in the unit.<\/p>\n
Stam’s first call to the city was\u00a0in late August, shortly\u00a0after Hamilton re-started enforcing its pest control bylaw, which was paused for over three years\u00a0due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
“The city is supposed to help you,” said Stam. “These are laws. These are property standards [landlords] have to comply with. They have to be responsible and there has to be consequences.”<\/p>\n
One bylaw officer is assigned to pest control enforcement for the city’s 860 apartment buildings.<\/p>\n
If landlords aren’t complying with the city’s bylaw to keep units free of pests, the officer\u00a0can issue written orders with deadlines for treatment,\u00a0said Kevin McDonald, public health’s director of healthy environments.<\/p>\n
If the landlord doesn’t follow through by that deadline, the city can hire a pest control company and then charge the expense to the landlord’s property tax, which it has done four times since August, McDonald said.<\/p>\n
This approach was not taken in Stam’s case.<\/p>\n
Instead, the\u00a0officer gave a “verbal order”\u00a0to the property manager on Sept. 15 and has since closed the case, McDonald\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
“Hamilton Public Health Services’ priority is ensuring the appropriate treatment is performed in residences to eradicate any pests, as quickly and effectively as possible,” McDonald said.\u00a0“Pest complaints can take an extended period to be resolved, as pests can be resilient.”<\/p>\n
Since August, the city has\u00a0addressed nearly 370 pest concerns, including closing cases once it’s determined the landlord is complying with the bylaw. There’s currently\u00a0another 73 cases ongoing, McDonald said.<\/p>\n
The bylaw officer\u00a0has\u00a0the power to issue fines to landlords\u00a0for not keeping their buildings free of pests, but that appears to have never\u00a0happened.<\/p>\n
Before the property group had the unit sprayed in November, Stam spent hundreds of dollars to hire her own pest control company to spray her unit several times in August and September, and provided invoices to CBC Hamilton.<\/p>\n
The treatment was ineffective because bed bug infestations continued in neighbouring units, she said. She sent the invoices to\u00a0Blackblack Property Group, but has yet to be reimbursed, she said.<\/p>\n
St. John told CBC Hamilton that Stam fabricated the receipts and the company she hired, Ontario Pest Control, doesn’t exist.<\/p>\n
CBC Hamilton called the company that’s a registered corporation in Ontario’s business registry and spoke to Bob Rahim, who said he inspected Stam’s apartment last summer, found bed bugs and sprayed her unit a couple times.<\/p>\n
Rahim said he’s treated the building for bed bug and cockroach infestations several times before Blackbird Property Group took over management in 2018.<\/p>\n
“The building has always had issues,” Rahim said.<\/p>\n
CBC Hamilton also spoke to another tenant in the building who said they had bed bugs around the same time as Stam.<\/p>\n
Jonathan\u00a0Culp\u00a0said after they reported bed bugs in their unit to the city in October, the property manager sprayed their unit, but\u00a0they feared\u00a0a building-wide infestation and\u00a0moved out.<\/p>\n
Stam said she\u00a0can’t afford to move out. She pays just over $600 a month for the small, one-bedroom apartment she’s lived in since 2013, which is well below current market rent.<\/p>\n
She fears her landlord is trying to force to her out by not taking her pest complaints seriously or responding to other maintenance issues.<\/p>\n
Stam and other tenants received an N13 eviction notice last July, confirmed ACORN Hamilton, a tenant advocacy group, which Stam is a member. The notice said the building would be demolished.<\/p>\n
St. John told CBC Hamilton he has no plans to demolish the building, but rather wants to do repairs.<\/p>\n
The notices expired without St. John filing an application to the Landlord and Tenant Board so for now, the tenants don’t face eviction.<\/p>\n
****<\/p>\n
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