At the end of January, former TU/e student Marks Maizītis is in the supermarket when his phone rings: it’s his landlord. “Holland2Stay called me with the message that I owe them twelve thousand euros initially. They then asked whether I wanted to pay the full amount immediately or in installments,” he says. “That was the whole conversation. It felt like a punch to the gut. The costs are enormous—more than a year and a half of rent.”

New furniture

At that point, it has been more than two months since an exterminator treated his room and six others following a bedbug outbreak. These are small parasitic insects that do not transmit diseases but can cause severe itching and red bumps. They are often brought back from trips or hitchhike in secondhand furniture. They can spread easily through other rooms in buildings with multiple residential units.

New mattresses and beds were reportedly purchased for each room, as they were said to be infested with bedbugs. The landlord is also passing these costs on to Maizītis. This is evident from communication between the building manager of Holland2Stay and the former student, reviewed by Cursor. Maizītis says: “It feels quite extortionate. I don’t think I should be responsible for all the costs.”

Left in the cold

The case concerns student housing in the former Philips headquarters on Boschdijk. Maizītis received his room in 2023 through the TU/e Housing Lottery system. The building was quickly converted into temporary student housing for over 450 students.

The building had issues before. In 2024, Cursor spoke with Maizītis about problems with the heating system in the building. At the time, it emerged that students had been left in the cold for months. This was due to the rapid conversion of the office building into student housing.

Insects on the bed

Maizītis reported insects on his bed on November 10 2025 after returning from a weekend trip. Although he believes the outbreak may have started earlier. “I’ve never had problems with pests before, so I didn’t know what to look for. I suspect they had been there for a while, but I reported it as soon as I saw it with my own eyes.”

The former student is forced to stay with friends for two weeks because his room is deemed unsafe by the building manager. Nearly two weeks later, on November 23, he still hasn’t heard anything and asks when it will be safe to return to his room. Two days later, the building manager informs him that he can return. This is evident from communication between the former student and the manager via the online tenant portal.

After the phone call in which Maizītis is ordered to pay 12,000 euros, he pushes back. He drafts a letter asking for the legal basis for holding him liable for the costs, as well as the invoices for the extermination and the purchase of new furniture. “How else am I supposed to contact my insurance company?”

Maizītis does not receive a substantive response. However, on March 26, he does receive a payment reminder for the outstanding amount, which— for unclear reasons—has now been reduced to 8,334 euros. The amount has been added to his account in the tenant portal. He still has not received the invoices.

Surprise

In a conversation with Head of Operations Freek Willems and regional manager Zivile Alsauskaite of Holland2Stay, it is confirmed that a report was drawn up by the pest control service following the outbreak. The invoices for the extermination and the new furniture also exist, but they are unable to show them when asked.

According to Willems, Holland2Stay does everything it can to act quickly in the event of an infestation. “Bedbugs are a persistent and serious problem. Unlike cockroaches or mice, you have to treat the entire room and all the furniture. As recommended by specialized pest control companies. It makes sense that costs are associated with this for the tenant. If there is an infestation around room 31, then the costs of consequential damage in surrounding spaces are also for the tenant. That was the case here. The infestation had spread to neighboring rooms.”

The fact that the building manager has not yet shared the pest control report and the invoices with Maizītis comes as a surprise at Holland2Stay’s headquarters in downtown Eindhoven. Nor do they understand why the student was not allowed to enter his room for two weeks. Willems and Alsauskaite say they will provide the documents as soon as possible.

Question marks

More than two weeks later, those documents still have not been shared with Maizītis, he says. The building manager cancels a previously scheduled appointment with the student the day after Holland2Stay’s conversation with Cursor. According to Holland2Stay, the meeting has been rescheduled several times by both parties. Maizītis hears nothing for some time. Then the building manager informs him that he will not receive the invoices digitally, but may only view them in person.

An independent expert questions the size of the bill. According to Gerhard Geurtse, director of the Dutch Pest & Wildlife Expertise Centre, the cost of exterminating bedbugs in six student rooms is significantly lower. He is also surprised by the ban on entering the room. “Treating six student rooms can usually be completed in a single workday. It is recommended that you wait until the pesticide has dried before re-entering the room. This takes a matter of hours, not weeks.”

Holland2Stay fully acknowledges this last point. The fact that the student was not allowed into his room was due to a miscommunication or “misunderstanding,” the company said in a written response. “The tenant could have moved into the apartment earlier; however, this information was inadvertently not communicated on our end, nor was it requested by the tenant.”

In the elevator

Holland2Stay indicates that there were multiple bedbug infestations in the former Philips headquarters, including on other floors. Meanwhile, Maizītis has reported pests again. This time, the insects are not in his own room, but in the building’s shared elevator. As to Maizītis knowledge, no pest control company has been hired yet. Holland2Stay reports that there are no longer any active reports of bed bugs or pests.