City to deploy landlords in war on bedbugs

The city is expected to announce a new wave of bedbug-inspired building regulations today in an effort to shift the responsibility to landlords in the war on bedbugs, the Post reported. The new rules, effective immediately, require building owners to inspect and treat apartments situated next to, above and below any bedbug-infested unit in addition to notifying tenants of their plans. If landlords repeatedly fail to comply, they’ll have to get a licensed exterminator to prove their buildings are bedbug-free with a sworn affidavit or else face fines from the city’s Environmental Control Board. (In the past, the Department of Housing Preservation & Development was the only city agency with the privilege of issuing bedbug fines.) If all else fails, the city is also now reserving the right to sell liens on properties whose owners refuse to pay their bedbug fines. [Post]