If you report bed bugs in a residential building, hotel, or a Single Room Occupancy (SRO), the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) will conduct an inspection. HPD may conduct inspections with a bed bug-sniffing dog. If bed bugs are found, the residential building owner may get a ticket. 

You must provide your contact information.

To report bed bugs in a private house or apartment, you must be a tenant in the building. If you are reporting bed bugs in a hotel room or SRO, the Room # can be entered in the Apartment # field on the form.

You can report bed bugs in NYCHA public housing by filing a NYCHA Public Housing Maintenance Complaint.

If you have already reported bed bugs to your local management office and the issue has not been resolved, contact your NYCHA Borough Management Office for further assistance.

Report bed bugs in a public school.

You can report bed bugs at a City University of New York (CUNY) college by contacting the individual college’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety.

Get a list of Environmental Health and Safety contacts at each campus.

Bed bugs are not known to spread disease and do not present a public health risk. Therefore, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) does not accept or respond to complaints about bed bugs in child care facilities.

To report bed bugs, you should contact the manager or owner of the day care facility.

Information and guidance is available for parents and guardians of children in child care facilities where bed bugs have been found.

Where to Find More Information on Bed Bugs

To learn more about bed bugs, including how to prevent and get rid of bed bugs safely, go to the Bed Bug Prevention and Control page.

DOHMH Regulations

The NYC Health Code states that child care facilities should be kept free of rodents, insects and other pests, and free of any condition conducive to rodent, insect, and other pest life.

If a day care center or pre-school has bed bugs, the operator must hire an exterminator, unless:

• The day care is in a private home. The homeowner must hire the exterminator.
• The day care is in a private apartment building. The landlord must hire a licensed exterminator.
• The day care is in public housing. The operator should file a report by calling 311.

Parental Notification of Pesticide Use in Child Care Facilities

Parents must be notified about pesticide applications at least 48 hours before the application.

Should Children Be Kept Home or Go to the Doctor?

Bed bugs are not known to spread disease. You are not required to keep your children home from a day care that has a bed bug infestation. 

You do not have to take your child to a doctor simply because their day care center had bed bugs. However, if your child gets bitten and the bite gets infected, you should take them to a doctor.

What to Do with Clothing

If your child attends a day care with a bed bug infestation, check the child's clothes upon arrival at home. It is recommended that you immediately wash and dry the clothing on hot settings.

You can report bed bugs in subway stations, subway cars, buses and bus terminals to whichever agency manages the property:

• Buses and Subways
• Long Island Rail Road
• Metro-North Railroad
• New Jersey Transit
• PATH Trains
• Port Authority Buses
• Staten Island Railway

You can report bed bugs in any public or private hospital or clinic located in New York State by filing a Hospital or Clinic Complaint.

You can report bed bugs in a homeless shelter, a drop-in center, or a runaway shelter by filing a Homeless Shelter Complaint.

You can report bed bugs at a Domestic Violence Shelter by contacting the Shelter Director.

Shelter Directors are trained to address these issues.

The City does not accept reports about bed bugs in businesses or nonprofit organizations. You should report bed bugs to the manager or owner of the facility.