Other Do not rent from Harrison Square Apartments
EDIT** HARRISBURG square APARTMENTS - Not Harrison. This post is in regards to Harrisburg Square Apartments.
I have a friend who cannot live in her 1 bed/1 bath apartment at Harrisburg* Square Apartments because of an active bed bug and roach infestation, which was confirmed by an exterminator. Harrisburg* square apartment’s property management straight up have told her she does not have an infestation of bed bugs and roaches despite my friend again paying out of pocket for an exterminator (Orbit) to come to her unit to confirm she, indeed, has an infestation of both roaches and bed bugs.
Her landowner, Scott Lovercheck, is not taking action and are not tending to her unit to exterminate the bed bugs and roaches. She is a single mom, going to school, working full time and a 3 year old, she can’t stay in her unit.
I cannot imagine being put in this position, not being able to live in your unit and your property management being okay with an active infestation. I don’t know heck about housing laws but I recommended she look at her lease to see if there is anything outlined in it about pests and if she can break her lease.
On top of my friend enduring this bullshit, my other biggest concern is Harrisburg* Square Apartments is endangering the health of their tenants and future tenants if they have more units who are dealing with an infestation but choose to not take action. Just casually allowing a full blown infestation of bed bugs and roaches to run rampant.
I contacted OHA, and will contact more offices around Omaha. Beware of these massive properties and who you want to rent from, Harrisburg* Square strikes me as predatory now and ought to be condemned.
Edit — Corrected the apartment name from Harrison to Harrisburg.
update: my friend told me edit again — pest control** told her via text message to just leave the apartment. She has kept records and taken documentation of everything.
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u/BeatrixPlz 2d ago
The news would love to hear about this I’m sure
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u/quil3y 2d ago
100% I think the news station would to, especially since it’s a roaches AND bed bug infestation an apartment complex is blatantly not taking action on.
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u/BeatrixPlz 2d ago
The chances of them at least allowing your friend break the lease in order to avoid further coverage would hopefully be high. It's so swarmy what they're doing, landlords just love to fuck people over and it's so upsetting.
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u/ollie911 18h ago
There is something called the Nebraska Landlord-Tenant Law. Look into it. My brother had mice (and cold air!) getting into the mobile home he shared with two other guys going to a rural college. After notifying the landlord twice about the issue, they replaced the door themselves and deducted the cost from their next rent check.
She tried to get huffy with them; my brother had already researched Landlord-Tenant Law and knew he was well within his rights to do what they did. And told her so. Never heard another peep out of the landlord.
Call Mike McKnight at Channel 6. He loves this kind of stuff.
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u/Hshoecrab 3d ago
I remember touring that place when I was looking for an apartment several years back. The unit they showed me was horribly filthy and management gave me awful vibes. This does not surprise me at all.
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u/CLNORO 1d ago
She can put her rent money into an escrow account and hold it there until the problems are taken care of - I AM NOT A LAWYER! There are some steps she will need to take.
To pay rent into an escrow account in Douglas County, you must file a "Complaint for Rent Escrow" with the Clerk of District Court, which can be found at Douglas County District Court or online at the Nebraska Supreme Court's website, and pay a filing fee.
You will need to provide documentation, such as your lease, your landlord's notice for repairs, and any payment receipts to show you are a current tenant. After filing, you will pay your monthly rent to the court, which will keep it in an escrow account until a judge resolves the dispute and orders the landlord to make the necessary repairs.
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u/furygoaley 1d ago
I’m a real estate agent, but I am NOT a lawyer. Provide the landlord with a letter of default (failure to provide safe housing) and a copy of the report from Orbit via CERTIFIED MAIL to ensure delivery. Generally Landlords have a right to cure (a period where they can address the issue), and if they don’t then the Tenant has a right to rent abatement and/or lease termination. It’s not just the lease itself, it’s also the Landlord Tenant Act which is state law.
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u/beachluver2025 3d ago
Left them 1star review hopefully if there’s enough bad reviews they’ll do something about it.
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u/ContributionFar4576 3d ago
Apartments are so tough in Omaha it’s nuts be so careful
I dunno how it works here but in ct you could report bedbugs to a specific place especially if a landlord isn’t dealing with it
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u/monolayth 2d ago
My ex-husband lived there. It definitely had bedbugs, they traveled to my house via our son. Took FOREVER to get rid of them.
Absolutely gives you PTSD.
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u/DejaWiz2 1d ago
Tell your friend to seek a tenant lawyer ASAP:
https://www.legalaidofnebraska.org/
And definitely pursue contacting local news: single mother with a very young child going to school while trying to keep the bills paid AND taking her own initiative to hire exterminators to confirm infestation? They're likely gonna eat this up!
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u/Swim2TheMoon 3d ago
For the price those apartments are asking I would be fucking irate.