How to get rid of cockroaches and rodents throughout the building

The main principle. You can’t solve this in a single apartment. Insects and rodents move through risers, ventilation and the basement, so treatment has to cover the whole building at once.

Step 1: report it. Notify the manager. Pest control and rodent control are building maintenance work.

Step 2: preparation. Residents need to give access to their apartments on treatment day. This is usually the step that falls through, and when it does, the whole effort is wasted.

Step 3: treatment. Apartments, stairwells, the basement, the bin area and technical rooms.

Step 4: repeat. A single treatment rarely gives a lasting result. A follow-up after a set period is usually needed.

Step 5: remove the causes. Seal gaps around pipes, tidy up the bin area, clear junk out of the basement, deal with damp.

Why this is a building issue, not something to be embarrassed about. Cockroaches aren’t a sign of a dirty home, they’re a sign of the building’s condition. The sooner a building talks about it openly, the sooner the problem goes away.