Bed bugs are an old scourge that has made a comeback throughout the US. During the last few years, bed bugs have become a larger and larger problem in Greater Columbus. To address the bed bug problem, Franklin County Public Health and many other City of Columbus, county and state agencies formed the Central Ohio Bed Bug Task Force in 2008. The Task Force’s website, www.centralohiobedbugs.org contains a great deal of current information about bed bug identification, control, and elimination for the general public, and guidance documents for schools, safety services and other professionals.
Franklin County Public Health and Columbus Code Enforcement are responsible for investigating and ordering landlords to treat apartment buildings. More information is available in the next section.
Franklin County Public Health cannot recommend methods of extermination or exterminators. Visit the Bed Bug Task Force's web page on questions to ask when choosing an exterminator.
If you are a tenant who is dealing with bed bugs, and you live in Columbus or anywhere else in Franklin County, Columbus Code Enforcement or Franklin County Public Health may be able to help you if:
- You live in a multi-family building;
- You have notified your landlord about the bed bugs and he has refused to treat your building;
- You building has been treated, but the bed bugs have not been eradicated;
- More than 10% of the units in the building are infested.
If these conditions exist in your building, you can file a complaint by calling 311, if you live in Columbus, and 525-3160 if you live elsewhere in Franklin County.*
We will investigate the bed bug infestation, and if we can verify that the bugs exist in more than 10% of the units, we will order the landlord to treat the building. If less than 10% of the units are infested, or you live in a single-family house, we will send orders to the landlord and the tenant.
What we cannot do:
- We cannot force the landlord to pay for treatment. We cannot intervene in a legal dispute between a tenant and landlord about who is responsible for paying for treatment.
- We cannot force a landlord to use a licensed exterminator if he, or someone on his staff, is a licensed pesticide applicator, and if he is applying the pesticides correctly, and if the treatments are effective
