Cockroaches and doctor’s note not enough for woman to cancel apartment lease: landlord

A Winnipeg woman who says her apartment is infested with cockroaches, says her landlord won’t let her out of her lease.

Rebecca, who asked for her last name to be withheld because she fears being unable to rent elsewhere, said she has a doctor’s note for her anxiety over the situation.

She’s been paying rent for her suite at 624 Broadway since July but has barely lived there since discovering cockroaches when she moved in.

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“There were hundreds of them,” she said. “When my brother and I went to set up my place, they were falling off the walls.”

She is currently staying with her mother, she said, because she cannot cook in her kitchen.

The apartment has been sprayed for the bugs five times, she said, but that hasn’t eliminated the problem.

“Some of them would die, yes, but there were at least, 20 to 15, like still roaming around and in the kitchen, there’s more. I don’t know what to do here.”

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Every time her landlord, Sussex Realty, sprays her apartment it triggers her asthma, said Rebecca.

Despite the fact she has a doctor’s note, Sussex has told her she must continue to pay rent until she finds someone to sublet the apartment.

RELATED: Cockroaches invading Winnipeg

A spokesperson for Sussex Realty told Global News they were not familiar with Rebecca’s specific case but did say cockroaches are becoming “an increasing problem in the city lately.”

“We encourage tenants to let us know as soon as we have problems and are happy to help in every way we can,” said Ivar Palmason in an email.

Sussex manages about 5,000 suites in Winnipeg, according to their website.

Taz Stuart of Poulin’s Pest Control told Global News in the past that cockroach numbers are spiking in Winnipeg apartments.

WATCH: Cockroaches invading Winnipeg apartments

1:31 Cockroaches invading Winnipeg

One female cockroach can produce 100,000 descendants in six months.

“Cockroaches, in a nutshell, love dirty places,” said Stuart. “They like food all over, they like water. If they don’t have any water they can die in about seven days. If they have no food, they die in about 30 days.

“That never happens, because they even eat their own poop.”

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Unlike bedbugs, cockroaches do pose a health risk to residents, he added.

“They are in the public health act,” he said. “They cause stomach issues. They carry lots of staph, E. coli, you name it. You start ingesting those foodstuffs with that material in it, you’ll then get sick from cockroaches.

“So it is a public health issue and it should be dealt with as such.”

— With files from Richard Cloutier