A 96-year-old Wallaceburg woman is being threatened with eviction after a dispute with her landlord over the cost of hiring an exterminator to rid her apartment of bed bugs.

Mary Doherty said her landlord is pressuring her to pay $495 by Dec. 19.

Doherty dealt with a bed bug infestation in her apartment earlier this year. She said she advised her landlord about the issue, but hired an exterminator to deal with the problem when she didn’t hear from the landlord.

Doherty, who said she has had no issues during the eight years she’s lived in the apartment, said both Chatham-Kent’s property standards department and the provincial Landlord and Tenant Board said she could take the amount she paid to hire the exterminator and deduct it from her next rent payment in October. She said she submitted the receipt of the pest control costs to her landlord with her October rent.

Doherty said she didn’t think there was problem, as she paid November’s rent and didn’t hear of any problem with her landlord until Dec. 4 when legal papers were placed under her door advising her to pay the $495 or she could be evicted.

“This really depleted her,” said family friend Robert Howe.

“It’s no way to treat somebody.”

Postmedia Network left a message with the landlord on Monday but has not received a response.

Doherty estimates that the entire bed bug infestation has cost her almost $2,000. She purchased a new bed, a new couch and paid to have her belongings transported to storage while the exterminator worked in the apartment. She also had extra expenses when she moved out while the work was completed over two weeks.

Doherty said she it took a lot of her time and effort to move everything into storage and to launder all of her linens and clothes.

Despite the extra costs, Doherty said she’s just looking for G3 Property Solutions Inc. to acknowledge the $495 she spent for extermination. She said her landlord is refusing to reimburse the costs and sent Doherty a notice to end her tenancy for non-payment of rent.

“It has just been a kick in the teeth,” Howe said.

When Doherty paid the exterminator, she was told such bills are usually paid by the property owner, and it was rare for a tenant to pay for the first time they were treated for bed bugs.

To top it off, on Dec. 5, Doherty was completing errands around town and lost or had $850 stolen from her.

“It’s not right for an old person like me to be going through this,” she said.

Doherty said she is not going to pay the sum sought by G3 Property Solutions and is going to appeal to the Landlord and Tenant Board.

“I’m not scared… I’m going to take them to court… and I’m going to win,” said Doherty.