Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Case Closed

I settled in court today and won $2.5k. This is $1k bond, $500 costs (replacement bean bags and dry cleaning), $900 in back rent, and $180 in money illegally obtained as a rent increase (which the judge noted without me saying).

What I didn’t receive was $2k in half rent since moving in, and $500 in other costs. The judge said the legislation prohibits compensation for personal injury and he couldn’t see how I could claim that back rent (perhaps NSW and USA don’t have such a clause). He also said I couldn’t replace cardboard boxes with plastic boxes and claim it (although I argued that, as the bugs can hide easily in cardboard boxes, he didn’t seem interested), and he didn’t mention a few hundred dollars in other costs.

The defendant did show up. He claimed he’d been trying to contact me by phone to arrange return of my bond (I haven’t received any calls). He claimed I’d damaged the curtains by having them dry-cleaned and he wanted to reduce my bond. He also said he had been invoiced for pest control by the real estate agent as REIWA said pest control is the tenants responsibility, and that I should be liable for the $450 there. He hadn’t logged a counterclaim for those costs though, and the judge seemed to indicate he wouldn’t win on any of those claims anyway as that’s not part of our contract.

So I settled for what I thought was at least reasonable (covering my costs, if not any of the hell I went through) – and because I needed the money ASAP. The judge said it was a very reasonable compromise. I count it as a win for me.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Update

No bug sightings as yet. I check my white sheets every night and every morning for marks and haven't t found anything. I turned my whole bed over a week ago and didn't find anything. I'm still waking up every few minutes / hours and hurriedly turning on the light and checking to see what's biting me but haven't found anything either.

The real watermark moment is about 55 days (which is a generation or so), so I'm still a while away from feeling completely free. But I'm much happier and feel safer in this new place.

I still read the bed bug news every day and comment on the forums. Today there was a bill being debated in Washington and lots of people have left comments here and there about it - comments like bed bugs aren't a big issue, that people who have them are dirty, and the government shouldn't have to deal with them. I've been doing my bit to correct those false assumptions, and I'm not alone. Other people are joining in the fight to educate others as well.