Problem Solver: Bats Invade Gaffney Rental Home

By Dianne Derby
Anchor
Published: September 29, 2008

Gone batty. An Upstate neighbor worries for the health and safety of her family when bats invade her rental home. She says she’s spent months trying to get the property managers to get rid of the pests but says Gaffney Realty Rentals just won’t come through. News Channel 7’s Dianne Derby made it easy for the company by finding someone to get the job done. It’s a 7 On Your Side Problem Solver.

“The contractors first came out patched the hole here on the side,“ said Lorie Dawson as she looked up at the hole near the attic of her rental home.

Dawson says the company she rented the home from hasn’t done enough to take care of the bats that have invaded the attic.
“From 6 to 7 in the morning and 6 to 7 in the evenings you can’t even be in my yard there are just hundreds of them and they just swarm,“ Dawson said.

She says Gaffney Realty Rentals tried to block holes with some sort of caulking but it only made the problem worse by trapping the bats inside.
“I’ve made numerous phone calls haven’t gotten any calls back,“ said Dawson. “It’s more or less been passed off as a joke.“
Dawson says one of the worst parts about it is that the bat’s have actually gotten inside the bedrooms. Her mother was sleeping in a bedroom when one of them flew in and whacked against her side another bat flew through her closet and perched on the window.
“We were terrified because what if we had been bit,“ Dawson said.

We called Gaffney Realty Rentals and…

“Minutes later I got a phone call stating that they were at that time researching to find a professional bat remover,“ said Dawson.

We tracked down the DNR’s Wildlife Control Operators Referral List and in less than an hour found someone to get rid of them. We passed this on to Gaffney Realty Rentals Gloria Geary.  She declined to speak with us on camera. However, she did tells us they made every effort possible to get the problem solved. But she did agree to let the man we found take a look at the bats and provide a free estimate.
Wildlife Control Operator Vinson Sherbert went into the attic and said he didn’t see bats but…

“The bats could still be there and not be visible which there’s a lot of area there for them to be hidden,“ said Sherbert.

But he did see fresh droppings which can be a health hazard if dust from the droppings is inhaled. He said he’d pass on the estimate to the realty company and hopefully put this problem to a rest.

“I think it’s pathetic that we’ve waited two months because if it were their home and their children I think they would have done something immediately,“ said Dawson.

Cherokee County Assessor, Bob Everett, says Gloria Geary is listed as the owner of the home on county records. When I asked Ms. Geary to confirm that she told me it was company policy not to give the names out of homeowners.

The South Carolina Bar Association says if your landlord doesn’t make repairs you need to give them written notice that you will move if repairs aren’t made in 14 days. If that doesn’t work you can go to court and ask a judge to order the landlord to make those repairs. For more information about Renters’ Rights click here.

For more information about Bats in SC click here.