Submitted by "Spouse of renter" on 06/21/2010

New Westminster has a new bed bug palace, Regency Towers. Residents and future renters of this building have the right to know.

Exterminators and a bed bug sniffing dog have confirmed infestations in unit 707, and the infestation has been confirmed to spread to unit 808. Somehow they got through the concrete structure and spread. It would come as no surprise that the infestation has spread to other units but tenants don't yet know.

Check the creases in your beds, under the sheets, etc. The only real way to know if you are infested is to have a bed bug sniffing dog to inspect your suite which you may be able to convince the reluctant management to do at their expense (good luck with that).

The units are being/have been fumigated so the beg bugs may spread in order to get away from the spray.

Good luck talking to Geri and Larry living in their penthouse palace. After having talked to other tenants they apparently were not aware of the infestation. You can expect attitudes and to be hushed up. Also, don't expect them to pay for disposal of your beds.

The residents and future renters have the right to know about this infestation.

Submitted by "Spouse of Renter" on 07/26/2010

I have to admit in my monitoring of the bedbug infestation that; yes, management is doing what they can to quell the spread of bed bugs.

My concern is that management has given the responsibility to family members to do the spraying themselves probably to save money. I am unsure if the family members are professionally trained. Having untrained non-professional treatments is extremely unwise and risky.

Management has been taking on the paranoia that someone may be spreading them intentionally, possibly dropping them in peoples mail box slots and desiring to install more security cameras to catch them. What the motive would be for someone to intentionally infect themselves just so they have no choice but to dispose of thousands of dollars of their own belongings makes absolutely no sense.

I think it's great that the Management is spending thousands of dollars on building upgrades, which by the way are completely off topic for BedBugRegistry. This mention is probably purely self-promotion as the building is apparently up for sale for $16.5 million dollars (according to the McDonald Commercial web site).

I urge tenants to protect themselves and their property by completely silicone sealing every baseboard, door frame, radiant heat piping and all of the electrical light/plug panels, fixtures, etc. It is also wise to use clear duct tape on unused electrical outlets and lighting panels. Tenants should also put weather seal around their doors and install door sweeps. Your suite must be completely and absolutely air tight. Either do it yourself or have someone who knows what they're doing do it for you. Attention to details is essential. Investing in about $40.00 worth of supplies could potentially save you thousands of dollars in lost property. However, keep in mind that there are never guarantees but it's better than doing nothing about it.

Submitted by "Anonymous" on 07/25/2010

The Managers of 706 Queens Avenue, New Westminster, BC. would like to reply to the anonymous submittal of 6/21/2010 on your web site by “Spouse of renter”, and update the status of our building. We support the idea of this web site, as long as the information posted is fair, accurate and non-inflammatory.

We have the following comments:

1. We have recently had a limited issue with bed bugs (for the first time in 20 plus years of ownership). Our Managers have acted expeditiously, and appear to have the situation dealt with, but we are continuing to monitor same. This has been disappointing, because we make every effort to screen our Tenants and maintain a well managed residence for them. But when a Tenant tries to solve their problem without telling us, this is not the most effective way of dealing with same. We want to know at the earliest possible date, so we can quickly deal and solve the situation. We are here to help, in situations such as this.

2. When we discovered the presence of bed bugs in a suite, we immediately retained a reputable national pest control company to investigate and treat the issue, which they did. An affected suite was carefully inspected and treated at least twice; further ongoing monitoring is underway. At our initiative, we also hired a dog which is trained to detect the potential presence of bed bugs with its acute sense of smell. We wanted to find out if there were any problems that even Tenants were not aware of. This was done twice at our expense, covering a range of suites, strictly for precautionary reasons.

3. If any Tenant suspects bed bugs, they can be assured that we will expeditiously respond, with professional assistance. Our Tenants know that we are always very open and responsive to communications from them, on any subject concerning their homes. Our Resident Manager Geri works very hard to look after their interests, and she cares a great deal about their comfort, safety and happiness here.

We are hopeful that we have this situation behind us, but are working hard with our Tenants to attempt to ensure that their stay here is a happy and healthy one. Our recent major capital improvements involving repiping the domestic water system, suite improvements and replacing the roof show our commitment to upgrading and maintaining our building as a quality home for our Residents.