Several families say their dream of beachside living quickly soured after a Sydney apartment block left them dealing with persistent bedbug infestations.
Former tenants of two apartments at 2-4 Kidman Street in Coogee claim they experienced recurring infestations between 2019 and 2023, describing sleepless nights, anxiety, and thousands of dollars' worth of belongings thrown away in desperate attempts to escape the pests.
One mother, who lived in Unit 4 for around 18 months between February 2019 and October 2020, said the ordeal began when unexplained bites started appearing on her newborn daughter's legs.
'We started to get bites really badly about August 2020 - I think we'd been in a newborn bubble and hadn't seen them,' she said.
'And then one night we saw them on the bed and my partner woke up and he was completely covered in them.'
The parents said they struggled to sleep following the incident and felt too embarrassed to raise the issue with fellow tenants.
'You just knew that if you were going to lie down, there'd be one,' she said.
'There's a shame about it because we thought we'd brought it into the apartment, as no one else was talking about it.
2-4 Kidman Street, Coogee includes 10 one-and-two bedroom units, two of which are currently being marketed as short-stay accommodation
The Daily Mail has spoken to three families who lived in the building between 2019 and 2023, who all say they told the real estate agencies about the bedbugs problem (stock image)
'We then heard from our neighbour that they'd experienced bedbugs before and they'd had to pull up the floors and rip out the walls.'
The woman said she contacted Century 21 Real Estate Bondi Junction to report the bedbugs but received what she described as a 'very blasé' response.
The family ultimately broke their lease and left the city.
'It forced us to leave Sydney, it scarred us, we loved Coogee, we loved living there, all of our support networks were there, but it basically drove us out,' she said.
'For two months, we'd been putting our things into black bags, spraying them and then leaving them out in the sun as we heard that worked. But we had to throw everything out.'
But the trauma followed them in their new rental.
'There was a few bush bugs there and I was so frantic about them,' the mum said.
'I was so traumatised about [the idea] of them coming with us and just not being able to shake them. They're so hard to get rid of.
The couple's little girl started to get bitten on her legs by the bed bugs
The young family were living in unit 4 inside the apartment block but believe the bugs spread
'I'm a very energetic, extroverted person but I started to become an introvert.
'I didn't want to see people, I got really paranoid about touching things, spraying suitcases if we'd been anywhere, not sitting on train seats... you spend your whole life being consumed by it.'
Century 21 Real Estate Bondi Junction, which previously managed Unit 4, said that it reported the issue to strata and the landlord immediately after being notified and arranged pest control treatments.
'Bedbugs were reported to us by one tenant in the property,' the agency said.
'This unit was given the all clear by pest control and the strata company.
'Then another set of tenants moved in and reported bedbugs - again the strata and landlord sent pest control straight away, but the tenants elected to move out. This was by mutual agreement and the landlord returned all their rent back in 2022.
'We believe that the owner of the unit then went on to sell it later.
'As far as our agency was involved, we did all that could be done and this has been proven with evidence at all levels. Unfortunately, bedbugs are quite a common occurrence in East Sydney.'
Another tenant initially passed the bedbug marks off as eczema, which she suffers from, however the bites (pictured) continued to appear
She began experiencing bites on her legs too, however her partner wasn't bitten
Several other former tenants of Unit 4, who wished to remain anonymous, also told Daily Mail Australia they notified property managers about bedbug concerns during their tenancies.
One of the tenants said the ordeal has cost them their ability to enjoy life after experiencing 'severe paranoia, panic and helplessness' from the time they spent living inside one of the units.
Another couple who later rented Unit 5 through McGrath Coogee said they initially mistook bite marks for eczema before discovering what they described as a severe infestation.
'The itching would get really bad at night,' the woman said.
'I woke up one night, turned on my torch and saw a little bug on me. Then I lifted the sheet and there were about six bugs.
'My partner and I lifted the mattress up and there was bedbugs everywhere. It was absolutely horrific.
'Because we were aware of what was happening, we started to see bugs coming up from the drains... they were disgusting.'
They claim a McGrath Coogee agent told them they were not aware of the issue and engaged a pest control company.
The couple then managed to discover who the previous tenant was and contacted them to see if they'd had a similar experience.
This tenant confirmed they had told the same McGrath Coogee agent about the bedbugs issue and later moved out of the unit.
'He told me the agent played dumb. They were living in the apartment right before we moved in and that's why they moved out. He had emails to show the agent knew exactly what was going on,' the woman said.
The pair said an exterminator told them the building was 'crawling' with bedbugs, prompting them to end their lease early.
Coyle & Everett Pty Ltd, the strata company responsible for the building, said it ensures accredited pest management experts attend whenever infestations are reported within the scope of its responsibilities.
'If any pest infestation or issue becomes known to us… we have always diligently ensured specialist accredited pest management experts attend,' the company said.
