Commons add bedbug clause to lease

With the help of a new lease addendum, South Campus Commons officials are hoping students see fewer instances of a certain unwanted roommate — bedbugs.

Students leasing Commons apartments next year are now required to sign a full-page "Bedbug Lease Addendum," after officials saw several confirmed infestations over the last year. The new lease component — which officials said will ensure students understand the process to report and exterminate an outbreak of bedbugs — dictates that tenants' belongings must be bedbug-free by the time the lease expires, that they cannot bring furniture into their units from off the street, that they must notify management if they think they have been exposed to bedbugs and that they must prepare for and comply with treatment procedures if an infestation is confirmed.

"We had several cases this past year of some units that had confirmed cases of bedbugs, so we wanted to be responsible as a management team and really have actual procedures that we follow, as well as what we need the residents to follow in order to eradicate the issue properly," said Shayla Benson, South Campus Commons' associate director.

Benson said the issue of bedbugs — small parasitic insects notoriously named for leaving itchy bumps on the sleeping humans they feast on — has only arisen the past year or so, noting there have been fewer than a dozen isolated outbreaks occurring. She did not disclose which Commons buildings the bedbugs were found in.

"We had to respond regardless of whether it was one or it was 50," she said. "Bedbugs are an issue where you can't just easily get rid of them by going to your local store and buying a can of Raid — it doesn't work that way."

Benson said the causes of the outbreaks are also unknown. Although bedbugs are often brought into homes on the backs of mice and rats, she said officials were sure rodents were not responsible for the infestations.

"It can be attributed to a number of things, whether someone stayed at someone's house and maybe they had them, or someone that's returning from a study-abroad program and maybe resided somewhere where they might have been," she said. "It's very hard to say where someone may have brought one or more with them."

In the event of an outbreak, if Commons management is notified, Benson said its own maintenance staff conducts an inspection first. Once the presence of bedbugs is confirmed, Commons hires an outside exterminator to remove the pests.

Commons pays for the treatment, as long as residents follow the directions outlined in next year's lease — which include bagging up items, making sure furniture is placed in a way that treatment can be applied, removing items from the walls so exterminators can get to hard-to-reach areas and washing the units afterward. Benson said in each case that has been reported, there have been no recurrences of infestation.

As for the leaseholders, many seemed to be simply intrigued.

"As far as I read, they pay for the bedbug treatment unless you don't adhere to their thing, and that's nice," said sophomore early childhood education major Michelle McQuaid, who will be moving into Commons next semester. "They're nice mattresses — so I mean, people have bedbugs, it just happens."

McQuaid said the addendum did not deter her from signing her lease, but rather was reassuring.

"It said if we get them, they'll get rid of them, so — I'll take it," she said.

Junior marketing major Rachel Epstein, who has lived in Commons for a year, echoed McQuaid's sentiment.

"I feel like there are issues everywhere with bedbugs — I've heard horror stories," said Epstein, who said she hasn't seen any outbreaks in her time as a resident. "I feel like it's just the culture of living in a big apartment building."

While Benson said some lessors have expressed their natural repulsion upon signing the addendum, she noted most are just appreciative of the honesty.

"I'll get a few ‘ews,' or ‘oh!' or, you know, ‘that's gross,'" she said. "I think if anything, most residents are grateful that we're telling them about it. ... Our main thing is to educate our residents — that's why we have this lease. And we want to let them know so they can be responsible leaseholders not just here but even outside of here."

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