Warsaw. A collector in a block on Gibalskiego

A street like many others on Nowolipki. Low apartment blocks, lots of greenery. We are standing in the yard, in front of a building on Gibalskiego Street. Julia points to a window on the first floor. She says: – From this perspective, it doesn't look bad, although you can see the garbage our neighbor has stored on the windowsill.

She shows a photo she took a few days earlier. “It was hot, the neighbor had to open the window. Those tiny dots we see in the photo are cockroaches. They came out of his apartment, there were loads of them.”

He presents the next recordings. – And this is what the apartment looks like inside – he states.

We watch as her partner struggles to open the door. It opens slowly. First, we see hundreds of black dots on the floor, these are worms. Further on, there is garbage, so much of it that it would be difficult to get inside.

How does the owner live there? We won't find out. He won't open the door for us. Julia will tell us, however, what everyday life is like for the residents of the block on Gibalskiego, and the officials will explain why they can't help them.

We enter the staircase. “Here you can see that someone killed the bugs when they were walking on the wall,” he says, pointing to the dirty spots. “Here one is walking, and here on the floor there are more, already dead,” he continues.

She adds: – This is a rather specific problem. We live above a neighbour, so the vermin from his house come to us. And not only to us. The residents of the building next door are already complaining. I heard from a neighbour that she sleeps for an hour, maybe an hour and a half at night. She keeps looking at the window to make sure nothing is coming into her flat. I also have trouble falling asleep, I do the same. I've left my apartment crying many times. When I see bugs crawling on the wall, it kills me.

The problem has been going on for a year now. Ever since a new tenant moved into the building. He got a social flat. First the smell appeared, half a year later the bugs. – Our house smells like a garbage can. We can't open the window, breathe fresh air, eat, it's impossible. We had to invest in air conditioning – describes Julia.

He assures: – We've tried almost everything. The administration has stated that all costs related to the disinfestation of the apartment are covered by the tenant. We spend a lot of money on this. It's not just one disinfestation, but two. We use this service all the time. We buy bedbug bombs that also work on cockroaches. And sprays, traps. A neighbor recommended another product to me yesterday. Another friend recommended it to her after she showed him the bites on her legs. There were also home remedies. Bay leaves did not help.

She and her partner are currently renovating their apartment. “Just to seal it up. We noticed holes through which bugs could get in. We're still fighting it. I haven't lived here for a month. Recently, after three weeks, I tried to get back home. It was evening, I was alone in the apartment. Suddenly I saw bugs crawling up the wall, one, two. I went out,” she adds.

The neighbor won't open the door for them. In June, they sent the first letter to the building's administration. “We still have no information. No one has contacted us, no one knows anything,” he admits. She also called social services. “I heard they will act in our favor, but we still don't have any information. As long as it is as it is, I'm not going back to the apartment. You can't live like this,” she says.

This is a story that is not lacking in cities. Usually an older person, usually very lonely. They stop coping with everyday functioning, and then – or maybe because of that – they start to collect everything they can get their hands on. At first they simply don't throw it away, but with time they start to endure it. The situation lasts for years, until the neighbors – initially unaware – start to feel the problem.

The housing association that manages the block on Gibalskiego Street assures: we have organized five disinfestations of the common areas. Unfortunately, it did not help much, because cockroaches breed in the apartment, which is the source of the problem.

The city that owns the property also took action in this matter. Employees of the Wola Real Estate Management Board tried to persuade the man to let the pest control team in, but the tenant did not open the door. Talks with the police did not help either, although the man let the district police into the apartment.

– In such situations, district police officers always cooperate with, among others, Social Welfare Centres, housing communities, as well as institutions and social organisations that can support the police in helping residents – says Marta Sulowska, spokeswoman for the Wola police.

And she adds: – The district policewoman contacted residents interested in resolving the difficult situation, she also talked to the tenant, informed institutions about the situation in order to take competent actions. Together with the employees of the Social Welfare Centre, she provided support and assistance to the tenant. The area is supervised, the policewoman is in contact with the building manager.

Officials and police emphasize that there is little more they can do without the tenant's willingness to cooperate. The regulations are clear: the tenant's consent is required for pest control or the removal of furniture in which bugs are breeding, otherwise it is a violation of domestic peace.

However, the spokesman for the Wola district office, Tomasz Keller, points out that the regulations allow, in extreme cases, entry into an apartment without the consent of the tenant.

– The State Sanitary Inspectorate has such a right in the event of a suspicion of a threat to life or health caused by environmental factors – says Keller.

So we contact the District Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Warsaw. We ask what needs to happen for officials to address the problem.

At the beginning we hear: – Since these types of cases are often very complex, it is impossible to clearly indicate a pattern of proceedings, as each of them is treated individually.

But where to start? As officials explain: by analyzing a specific case and determining certain issues: How long has the problem been going on? Has it gotten worse recently? What is the status of the premises in question? Is there contact with the person (opens doors, talks, answers phone calls)? Is the person lonely, or can they count on help from loved ones? Is the person under the care of a Social Welfare Center? Is the owner of the building involved in the activities?

The Sanitary Inspectorate also talks to the neighbours. Then it notifies the building manager, the owner of the premises (e.g. ZGN, Housing Cooperative), the Social Welfare Centre and together they decide on further actions.

– Such a person is often unaware of the nuisance. They are not bothered by dirt, stench or vermin. They can find their way in this environment so well that they do not pay attention to being bitten by bugs or the fact that they cannot use the toilet because the water has been cut off – describes Małgorzata Zabrzyjewska from the District Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Warsaw. She has also seen such apartments many times and knows that the owners usually defend them like “their kingdoms and their wealth”. – As a sanitary inspection, we are so familiar with such sights that few things impress us. The worst thing was a toilet completely contaminated with feces and the entire apartment in feces – she recalls.

And he adds that sometimes the owner's resistance turns out to be… helpful. He recalls a case from Zaruby Street, where the sanitary inspection filed a motion with the court. – It went further because we were refused entry to the apartment. According to Article 38 of the Act on the State Sanitary Inspectorate, “whoever obstructs or thwarts the activities of the sanitary inspection bodies shall be subject to a fine or criminal sanction” – he emphasizes. However, he notes that the sanitary inspection rarely takes legal action. More often, it takes steps such as notifying the owner or administrator of the building about the need to clean up the rubbish.

– We once had a case like that in Żoliborz, about 15 years ago. It was also spectacular. The negotiations, including psychologists and the housing cooperative, lasted two or even three years – he emphasizes and adds that in order to do something about a troublesome neighbor, you have to act in many directions. You can't just count on the sanitary inspection. – We have little competence in this area. Other services, owners or co-owners also have to take action within their scope. It is also a good idea to notify the building supervision – this is also a service that deals with the assessment of the way a given premises is used – he advises.

He admits, however, that there is simply no procedure that would help resolve such a problem quickly and efficiently, and each case is different. And always complicated. And first someone has to notify the inspection.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Warsaw Sanitary Inspectorate admit that in 2016 they already operated in the building at Gibalskiego 6, related to the presence of insects. However, at that time it was about a different tenant. Since then, there have been no other interventions regarding the property.

Zenobia Żaczek from the Tenants' Defense Committee admits that we are dealing with a complicated problem. – Neighbors are the wronged parties here. This is a slippery slope, if officials could apply for incapacitation, it would lead to abuses, for example, depriving elderly people of their apartments. This is a very difficult situation and I do not claim to have a solution – assesses Żaczek.

As she adds, although the regulations allow for termination of a lease agreement due to disturbance of order, but considering that the troublesome tenant is a person in need of treatment, a better solution would be to involve the Social Welfare Centre in the matter. However, there is a problem here. – This requires the consent of this person, without consent, little can be achieved – emphasizes the activist of the Tenants' Defense Committee.