Bedbugs leave Garden City resident 'frustrated, paranoid'

Elizabeth Chernecki says she has been dealing with bedbugs in her Garden City apartment building for two years and is fed up with the pests and lack of action on the part of buildingmanagement.

The long-time homeowner-turned renter said thatuntil she moved into the building at 1001 SinclairSt.just over two years ago, she didn't even know what a bedbug was.

"[I'm] frustrated, paranoid, because any time you feel an itch you think it's a bedbug. I'm not sleeping well, I'm not eating well, just upset. I have to get out of here."

Chernecki said that exterminators come in regularly and have left insect traps in her suite but that it hasn't made a difference.

"Every few months there is an outbreak of bedbugs, they come, they spray and that's it until the next outbreak. There's no prevention whatsoever and there should be."

Chernecki also wants Astroid Management, the company that manages the 55-plus residence, to pay for the damage she said the bedbugs have caused to her belongings. Chernecki said she bought a $700 mattress just before moving into the apartment and within two years the mattress has had so many bedbugs that she can't evensleep on it anymore.

Excitement to disgust

Chernecki was excited to move into the building initially. She liked the neighbourhood, she liked the size of the suite and she said the roughly $550 a month rent was reasonable.

"I was really excited about moving in until I started to realize how unsanitary the building really is," said Chernecki.

Chernecki plans on moving out as soon as possible but she worries for other tenants who may not be able to afford a new place to live.

"I think they're all afraid. They can't afford to move anywhere more expensive, so they put up with it, but it's sickening and it's disgusting."

CBC News has calls into Astroid Management for a response but has not yetheard back.