Big Apple To Sell 'Bedbug Liens' In Effort To Squeeze Scofflaw Landlords Disregarding Their Obligations Under City's New Critter-Control Rules

In New York City, the New York Post reports:

• New York City to bedbugs: “We’re biting back.” The City Council and Bloomberg administration officials will announce stepped-up rules [] targeting landlords who neglect bedbug problems in their buildings.
• Under the new rules — which take effect immediately — building owners must inspect and treat apartments next to, above and below any unit that has bedbugs. They also must notify all tenants when bedbugs have been detected and distribute a plan on eradicating them.
• Property owners who repeatedly fail to take care of bedbug infestations will be required to get a licensed exterminator to fill out a sworn affidavit indicating the problem has been handled. “We’re sending the message that we’re taking this seriously,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. “People are very nervous about bedbugs.”
• The Department of Health will be empowered to send landlords who ignore bedbugs to the city’s Environmental Control Board, which can issue fines. Presently, only the Department of Housing Preservation and Development can issue violations to landlords for bedbugs.
• In a last-resort move, the city would sell liens on properties whose owners ignore those fines. City officials will also unveil a Web site — www.nyc.gov/html/doh/bedbugs — to arm residents with information on eradicating the pests.

For more, see A crawl to arms in bedbug war.