‘My baby is being bitten’: Tenant’s apartment is infested with cockroaches, says management won’t let them leave
A mother detailed her horrifying experience dealing with a roach infestation in her apartment in a series of TikToks. In the videos, user @_roadk1llcat claims that her child sustained multiple cockroach bites and that she's had to throw away a number of personal belongings, including a couch valued at $4,000, after the building management didn't provide a pest-free environment for her and her family.
Several TikTok viewers urged her to take legal action and find another place to live so that she and her loved ones could live in a more sanitary environment. However, she stated that this was easier said than done, because of the management company's reaction to her requests to address the infestation.
@_roadk1llcat They are aware my baby is being bitten as well #apartment #namedrop #harrassing #illegal #scary #cockroaches #infestation #apartmentinfestation #greenscreen #greenscreenvideo ♬ original sound - ✧˖*°࿐
The TikToker writes in a text overlay of one video detailing the extent of how many roaches are in her unit, "The complex isn't fixing this and won't let us leave."
The clip then transitions to show just how many cockroaches are crawling around their unit—first, she flicks a towel in the kitchen, dispersing what looks like tons of pests all over the place. The clip then shows footage of other sections of the apartment—a closet teeming with the bugs, a picture of roaches inside of a coffee mug, and photos of bug bites on a baby are also featured in the TikTok post.
The tenant also wrote in the comments section that they intend on suing the property management company for not dealing with the infestation, and penned in another overlay, "Im threatening them with negative media attention this week, who wants me to drop their name?"
In a follow-up video, she responds to a comment from a user who urged her to take her landlord to court.
@_roadk1llcat Replying to @smol._beAn #apartment #badapartment #infestation #cockroaches #scary #storytime #foryoupage #foryou ♬ original sound - RoadkillCat
"We moved in here in January of 2022. And we didn't start seeing cockroaches until like 6 months later. And even then, it wasn't like a health hazard yet...it was just like an annoyance," she says. "We were still buying traps and sprays and poison and like nothing was really doing anything."
The TikToker continues that the problem only intensified over time, with more roaches flooding their apartment.
"Then this year, once the months started to get warmer, is when the infestation really got bad," she explains. "So on May 4th, I sent in a request for pest control."
However, like her previous attempts at killing the pests herself with store-bought solutions, she says the pest control workers' methods were equally ineffective. What's more, she had a horrifying discovery about the marks on her child.
"They sprayed, it did absolutely nothing and then May 16th is when I realized that the mosquito bites my son had were actually cockroach bites," the TikToker claims. "That same day, immediately I contact the office and told them they were in violation of ARS 33-1324 which it basically said that if there is a health issue that is not resolved within five days, we can legally break the lease."
She says the building didn't address the issue within five days. They were also not allowing their tenants to break their lease without holding their down payment and charging them two months' worth of rent.
The TikToker explains this was the main reason she stayed in the apartment because she didn't want to have to deal with the repercussions against her credit score when it came time for her to find a new place.
She says that upon looking at the evidence she gathered of the roaches along with the bites on her son, she felt better about taking her chances in court. Still, an attorney told her that the building's management team could argue that they acted in a responsible manner by sending pest control to their unit.
In the video, she states she sent a message to the landlord informing them that they have 72 hours to give them back their security deposit and refund them for that month's rent or that they would try and garner media attention on their situation.
The TikToker says she was reluctant to give the name of the building because she was still residing there and didn't want to put her residential information online. She added that once she moved into the new apartment where she and her family were located, she would air out the exact building that was filled with roaches.
@_roadk1llcat Replying to @Cramsey.0663 Made this a fee days ago #foryoupage #foryou #badapartment #apartment #infestation #cockroach ♬ original sound - RoadkillCat
In another video, the creator says the building department hasn't responded to her email asking for the security deposit to be returned, but that it has been two days since she sent the email.
The TikToker also says as a result of the infestation, she's had to discard tons of her personal effects, and had to take extra precautions when packing her belongings to be moved.
She says at the end of the video that if she does intend to sue the property, she intends to sue them for property damage as well.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @roadk1llcat via TikTok comment.
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