Tet Ley
1/5
Bed Bugs continue to be a problem here at 64 Finch Drive. My daughter moved into apartment 904 at the beginning of September 2019. The previous tenant was experiencing an infestation (which was evident upon viewing and the person showing the apartment even said it was infested with bed bugs) and we were extremely leery about moving in. But we were assured that the apartment was going to completely gutted for the entire month of August and everything replaced before we moved in including bed bug treatments. Which this apartment was upgraded during this month of non-occupancy with new flooring, appliances, bathroom, etc. I requested that the unit be treated again BEFORE we moved her in and we were told it indeed was. Looking back, I wish I would have went with my gut instincts and passed on this place. However, the close proximity to her College and the fact the apartment was secure and the assurances everything would be ok etc made me cast aside any doubts I had. The building itself is nice and the apartment is ok. The workmanship on the inside of the apartment was passable although not as clean as I would expect it to be. I don't believe the contractors they hired were overly competent on doing a nice, clean, professional job. Some of it seemed rushed (ie the painting) and slapped together quickly. But I can't really complain too much about the apartment itself. It seemed perfect for her. Or so we thought. A few weeks in, she started noticing some bite marks. Having never experienced bed bugs before, she thought at first it just might be mosquitoes. That is, until she experienced more and more and then spotted the bed bugs. Once we confirmed the infestation was there and never eliminated, we contacted the office and they scheduled a bed bug prevention spraying which they are obligated to do under law. There is quite a bit to do to prepare for this spraying including quite an expense of having to wash and dry all your clothes, sheets etc twice over. You are not compensated for this expense and the laundry facilities on-site quickly eat thru your laundry pay card doing this. Unfortunately, the infestation continued. After doing some research online and speaking to legal counsel and pest control companies, we discovered that the original infestation was never taken care of and that Homestead was liable for having rented a unit that was not fit for habitation. Legally, we could have proceeded to press for compensation, rent abatement and so forth and kicked up a huge fuss with the Rent Control Board and took it to a higher level. But at this point in time, we just wanted out of her lease and to be out of this unit asap. I contacted the London Head office at Homestead and received an almost immediate response. The Property Manager there who contacted me seemed very concerned and apologetic and admitted they failed in their responsibilities to ensure the apartment was no longer infested after relying on their pest control unit to have eliminated the problem. We then came up with an agreement to end her lease at the end of November. I was happy with the helpfulness of Kailen Mulcahy in their London office and thought he took our concerns seriously and thanked him for it.
I have to admit I was a little disturbed finding out today that the Unit 904 was being shown to others to Rent out before the problem is indeed taken care of. I voiced my concern to Mr. Mulcahy and received a reply back that he understood my concerns but they are taking the steps necessary to ensure the pest issues are resolved as they have successfully handles circumstances such as these in the past. My argument is that if this is indeed the case, shouldn’t this have been the case BEFORE my daughter took control of the apartment in the first place? I am posting this review in case anyone who does indeed rent out this apartment finds themselves in similar predicament, that they can escalate this to the Rent Control Board and their Legal team.
