According to environmental inspector Katja Andersson, she has never previously encountered such a severe bedbug infestation that requires a total evacuation of a multi-family house. The newspaper Tidningen Ångermanland first reported about bedbugs in the rental property in Härnösand, highlighting the unusual severity of the case. Last week, the municipal board in Härnösand made a decision that gave the property owner two alternatives: either to sanitize the house with gas or to cold-store the house for one and a half years.
By March 20 at the latest, the property owner must present his decision, setting a tight deadline for action. The property owner is critical that the municipality has not taken into account the economic damage the decision causes. According to SVT Mittnytt, the property owner described shutting off sanitized apartments as leading to large economic losses without providing any increase in protection, and he will also sell his properties in Härnösand, the sooner the better.
In September 2025, a tenant noticed that his apartment was affected by bedbugs and suspected that the pests had spread from another apartment in the house, indicating the infestation's origin and spread. Questions remain about who actually has the responsibility to sanitize bedbugs in an apartment, how much rent reduction tenants can get, and what obligations tenants have in such situations.