“MPP Mike Colle to table legislation to fight bedbugs”

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MPP Mike Colle to table legislation to fight bedbugs Posted: 02 Jun 2010 11:35 AM PDT MPP Mike Colle has introduced private member's legislation to force landlords to disclose information about bedbug infestations to prospective tenants. Colin McConnell/Toronto Star Tenants have a right to sleep tight and not let the bedbugs bite, says Liberal MPP Mike Colle. Inspired by Star columnist Joe Fiorito's crusade against bedbugs in public housing, low-income rental units, and seniors' homes, Colle on Thursday will introduce private member's legislation to protect tenants against the nasty parasites. "It seems to be so persistent, these things won't go away – it's like a real scourge," the Eglinton-Lawrence MPP an interview Wednesday. The Renters' Right to Know Act would shield people from having to endure the unpleasantness of bedbug bites in their rented houses and apartments. "As much as the city is trying to deal with it and public health is trying to deal with it, I think we need to get it up another level to really try to tackle this thing, because it just destroys people's lives," said Colle. "I've had a 90-year-old constituent of mine that was crying because she got rid of all her furniture, had the place fumigated, bought new furniture, brought it in and they came back again," he said. "So it not only affects your health, it really affects your whole state of mind." Colle's legislation would amend the 2006 Residential Tenancies Act "to require landlords to disclose any information with respect to bedbugs in the rental unit or the residential complex before a tenancy agreement is entered into." That would entail a "bedbug information report" to be presented by a landlord to a prospective tenant prior to the signing of any lease. "The landlord shall provide to the tenant a report specifying any information that has come to the landlord's attention with respect to bedbugs in the rental unit or in any other rental unit in the residential complex for the previous five-year period," the bill states. Any landlord that fails to provide full disclosure of the bedbug history of a unit "or gives false information in the report" would face fines. While the bill is being tabled on the last day of the legislative session before MPPs rise for the summer, Colle plans to spend the break lobbying ministers and members so it could be passed in the fall. Bedbugs, which can live for up to 18 months without eating, are tiny and resilient, residing in the smallest of spaces, like electrical outlets and vents. Their eggs can even withstand vacuuming. So getting rid of the pests requires careful steaming and thorough vacuuming of carpets and broadloom, sealing of cracks, and washing of clothes and linens. Toronto's Public Health department receives thousands of calls for help each year and inspects thousands of apartments and holds dozens of seminars to help tenants. But bedbug infestations persist. A report on the problem last year found that increased travel, slow public response, shoddy control methods, and misdiagnoses by doctors have enabled bedbugs to multiply. Prior to 2003, bedbugs were considered by city public health officials to be "sporadic and mild" with only 46 reports in 2003. By 2008, there were about 1,500 bedbug infestations between March and October alone. "This legislation would make landlords more responsible so if you own a building, you know there are serious repercussions," said Colle. "The trouble with this thing is that people are ashamed to say they have them. And it doesn't just affect poor people. It affects people of all walks of life. You could pick up used furniture or used clothing and bring it home and you could have bedbugs."

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