Cockroaches

essexhoney

Apologies if this is in the wrong place wasnt sure quite where to put this.

My problem is cockroaches :eek: As yet i dont have them BUT i live on the 15th floor of a tower block of flats all of which are council property except for mine.
I am privatly rented though have had awful problems contacting my landlord over the past 3 years infact nobody has had any response for 3 years, so basically anything that goes wrong in the flat it is down to my to fix/replace as nobody else is going to do it.
Last weekend my elderly neighbour came to see me as she was a bit worried that she had let a man in claiming to be from the council but didnt have any identification into her home. He had told her that the block of flats were infested with cockroaches and the council had asked him to come out and check all the flats. He put 2 traps down one on top of her boiler and one in her airing cupboard and told her to call him on sunday to let him know if she had caught anything. He didnt take a name or a phone number for her or anything and just left a card with his mobile number on it. On tuesday i had a man knock on my door again claiming to be from the council etc (as above) he was adamant he wanted to come into my home even when i told him i wasnt a council tenant and the council wouldnt cover the cost of him doing anything in my home. It took me a good 10minutes for him to take notice of me :mad:
Each time he has come knocking at the flats it has been between 7 and 8pm.
On wednesday morning i contacted the environmental health department who told me that he was working on behalf of the council but should have doing the work during office hours and should have shown identification. She confirmed that 6 of the flats in the block are infested with cockroaches :eek: and told me as a private tenant i would be liable to pay for any work done in my flat by the council or a council contractor.
They know where the cockroaches originally came from and it is a well known fact that they are drug dealers :mad: but the council and police leave them to get on with it :mad:
What rights do i have if i get these cockroaches in my flat? I would have hoped that the council would be liable to pay for any work done as it is one of their tenants that has caused the problem to start with?

Also does anyone know anyway of preventing cockroaches from getting into my flat? I have 2 young babies so cockroaches are the last thing that i need :eek:

safesound

My hubby is a pest controller so I'll type what he says:
Basically there are two main types of cockroaches, being oriental and german. Cockroaches are not just a pain (feeding on your cornflakes) but they are also a serious health risk, spreading diseases such as TB, but mainly salmonella etc. It depends on what type of cockroach is infesting your block but either way you wont stop them getting in and if you dont treat it you are likely to reinfest the rest of the block all over again.
In short, you have to treat it, the local authority can force your landlord (if they can contact him) to treat the property. As you are just a tenant it is your landlords responsibility and he *has* to deal with the problem. Dont get too stressed over it, simply contact your local public protection dept and they will force your landlord to correct it. The bottom line is council pest controllers are not always that good, private companies such as Rentokil will charge between £300 and £700 depending on the size of the flat and the extent of infestation, the longer you leave it the worse it becomes.
You cannot deal with this yourself, its not like a mouse problem where you put a few traps down and it goes away. It needs to be dealt with by a professional.
My advice would be to contact the local environmental health dept and explain that you cant get hold of your landlord and ask for their help in making the property safe for your children.

Hope that helps

essexhoney

Thanks for that i think it may well be a trip back to the solicitors if that is the case our local environmental health department are about as useful as a chocolate chisel :rolleyes:
I have been in constant contact with them since i moved in near enough from everything to dirty toilet water leaking out the back of the toilet, blocked drains, no boiler and an unusable kitchen :eek: they have been useless and i have ended up having to pay for the work to be done myself as they couldnt get in touch with the landlord. :mad:
On the upside im not actually paying rent because i have nobody to pay it to so in effect they are actually paying for the work to be done.

I was wondering if the tenants had caused this amount of grief due to the cockroaches starting there they would take action against there tenancy

Are there any signs that i should look out for so that i would know if i had them or not? Obviously being able to see them and the noise they make but is there anything else? Im hoping they decide to avoid my flat as its quite cold up here (all the seals have gone on the windows :rolleyes: )

safesound

Come out with a torch late at night, look in cupboards and behind furniture.
If you havent got many you probably wont even see them, they do say that by the time you see them you are usually overrun. If you were closer I'd come and have a look for you but I'm in Wales. Another thing, if you leave a saucer or two of strong ale (such as mackies or guiness) then although it wont kill allot of them you will be able to see if you have any and ultimately what type they are (they *love* yeasty brews).

essexhoney

thanks il give that a try tonight
how do i tell the difference between the type? is it quite obvious or is it a subtle difference?
i swear i will go mental if i have got them and will definatly be paying my charming neighbours a visit!

safesound

Hubby isnt here at present so this is a german cockroach:



and this is an oriental one:



So yeah they are pretty easy to tell apart, once you've got down off the chair and stopped screaming (at least thats what I'd do) my skin is crawling as it is.

essexhoney

ewwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek: i actually feel physically sick now, i swear to god if i see one of them in here sod getting them out of here il be gone! :eek: :eek: :eek:

essexhoney

well i tried both of the above suggestions and saw absolutly nothing at all, though i think i may well be doing it every night until i know they are out of the block.
Thanks for all your help its much appreciated

D&DD

Gawd that brings back bad memories..When we owned our own flat we had these visitors..Was above a shop and they did a runner leaving rotting food :rolleyes:
DS1 was a baby and used to chase them:eek:
At night we used to hear them scrabbling round in the ceiling best place to check is behind pictures on the wall we found.I do feel for you as they are not nice to have to live with especially when like us we had no choice! We paid out to have our flat treated but the guy said unless the whole block one end to another was done they would keep coming back..Needless to say after finding a live one in the pick'n'mix of our sweet shop we never used the shops again :eek:

safesound

Thats the problem with the little blighters, if you dont treat the whole problem they keep spreading out again. Hubby is treating a shop at the moment where the flat above was in a terrible state, unfortunately the tenants of the flat didnt speak english and were treating the cockroaches with raid(!). He's done five treatments so far in the shop and all he is doing is keeping them at bay because the landlord of the flat above is too mean to have the place treated. Environmental health are currently in talks with the tight git and hopefully will force him to get it sorted.

essexhoney

Just thought i would update you on this situation. :eek:

I received a letter hand posted and very unproffessional looking through the door yesterday morning. I contacted the local council and they confirm it has come from them and it is real.

Dear Resident

RE: Cockroach Eradication Programme
Please see attached letter from A1 wasps and Bees Ltd.

This letter is to notify you of the treatment that is needed to cure the problem and when this work is proposed to take place.

If you have any further queires please contact A! wasps and Bees Ltd direct.

Yours Sincerly
Estate Officer

COCKROACH ERADICATION PROGRAMME
NOTICE TO RESIDENTS

Recent monitoring has revealed an extensive german cockroach problem on floors 10-15 on the southern section of *******. Cockroaches are able to run between floors via the service ducts and to gain control of the problem it is nesseccary to treat all of the flats in this section at the same time. Treatment is nesseccary even if monitoring showed that you did not have a current problem.

Treatment will be carried out on Thursday 2nd November, starting at 9.30am on the 15th floor and working down. It is anticipated that units on the 10th floor will be treated in the late afternoon. Your cooperation is sought in providing us access if there is a problem please contact us direct so that alternative arrangments can be made.

Treatment consists of placing tiny amounts of "Goliath Gel" at regular intervals at strategic places in the kitchen and bathroom. Although it may be necessary to apply the bait to the edges of kitchen units the product is hazardous and care must be taken not to allow it to come into contact with food. Children must not be allowed to touch it. These warnings should be kept in perspective; the product is approved for use in domestic premises under the control of Pesticides Act.

Cockroaches are caniballs and eat there dead. Goliath Gel retains its efficacy within the body of the dead insect and it will kill the cockroach that eats it. This process is effective down to the 6th generation. To allow the treatment to work it is important that your kitchen is clean especially behind the fridge and cooker. Bait is less likely to be eaten if there is a more attractive food source.

A return visit will be made on the 22nd November to place monitoring traps in the kitchen and bathroom to check effectiveness of treatment and again your cooperation is sought in allowing access.

Please contact me direct if you have a query.

Director


There spelling and punctuation mistakes are theres not mine i have typed it as it is written
The council have said they will pay for the treatment. Yet still to this day not one person that i have spokent to has seen a cockroach