What to do if cockroaches are crawling from your neighbors? Causes of appearance and how to combat them

Where do cockroaches come from in an apartment?

Cockroaches may end up in your home for various reasons:

• accidentally arrive along with a parcel or an order from an online store;
• move from a cafe or store on the ground floor;
• come from neighbors who poison insects;
• move out of an apartment in which they have become cramped

If insects are coming from a neighboring apartment, they may appear from:

• kitchen hood duct;
• ventilation shaft;
• window;
• gaps between the window sill and the window;
• cracks in the wall, ceiling;
• gap between panels;
• sockets;
• sewer

The pest is able to penetrate through any opening. In a cluttered apartment, he feeds on garbage, food scraps and crumbs. Anything his paws touch can potentially become a source of infection. Plying between the dinner table and the garbage can, a cockroach endangers the health of all family members, no matter how thoroughly they wash their hands.

But even in a tidy apartment, cockroaches can settle if they have free access to food: dried fruits in a vase, crumbs on the floor, a trash can without a lid - an offer that insects cannot refuse.

What to do

When cockroaches crawl from your neighbors, special companies that professionally exterminate such parasites know what to do. But even after a full-fledged professional disinfestation has been carried out on troubled neighbors, you cannot be absolutely calm and feel completely protected.

After some time, new individuals of cockroaches may appear, which will ruin the life of more than one family.

If they flee from other apartments

In an apartment building, cockroaches from neighbors often penetrate into any apartment. It is important for residents of adjacent living spaces, and especially those who have become a breeding ground for parasites, to agree to call a special service to carry out sanitary and hygienic measures.

Until this happens, so that cockroaches do not quickly fill the apartment, it is necessary to block their access to food supplies.

You can do this as follows:

• take out the trash daily;
• remove food debris and crumbs;
• ensure that plumbing fixtures or water pipes are in good working order;
• After using the bathtub or sink, wipe it dry;
• install mosquito bars on all ventilation vents;
• seal all cracks or crevices;
• carry out a thorough cleaning of the house every week;
• use prophylactic agents to combat parasites.

Blocking direct access to the apartment is half the battle. But if at least a few individuals remain, then they will not die out on their own and you will have to fight them long and hard.

You can repel cockroaches in your apartment or destroy them using the following means:

1. Baits for cockroaches. For the best effect, it is recommended to place baits in close proximity to baseboards, in corners, under sinks, in cabinets where trash cans are stored and near water pipes. To maximize the effect, it is recommended to use 3-4 baits simultaneously over an area of ​​up to 7 square meters. They need to be changed every 3 months.
2. Among the available remedies that are found in almost every home, you can use vinegar, ammonia, essential oils of mint, lavender, orange, or a decoction of bay leaves. They are added to the water during cleaning. In addition, it is recommended to use fragrant herbs: wormwood, tansy, peppermint. They are placed in the corners of the room to repel cockroaches.
3. Egg with boric acid. To prepare the poison, dry boric acid powder is mixed with raw egg yolk. They also add a little water to form a dough-like mass. Balls are formed from it and placed in all places of greatest insect activity.

Insecticides, repellents, as well as electromagnetic plates used to combat cockroaches must be of a new generation. They remain valid for six months.

If other residents do not want to get rid of them

If cockroaches are crawling from your neighbors, and attempts to solve this problem together do not yield results, then you can bring them to justice in court. Usually only people who are not completely sane are inactive. Their behavior must be reported to the condominium association (association of co-owners of an apartment building) , the housing and communal services office, or a complaint must be made to the sanitary and epidemiological station.

The applicant must have strong evidence that the neighbors have cockroaches. And he himself must have ideal sanitary conditions at home, otherwise the SES may file a lawsuit against him.

Video

Cockroach invasion. where are they running from?

If the tenants kill insects, and they run to you

Adequate neighbors should warn that they will be fighting cockroaches. But most often, the invasion of inhibited insects begins unexpectedly. Not everyone knows what to do if their neighbors’ cockroaches decide to move to a new house.

Of course, if you know about your neighbors’ actions in advance, you can take the following measures:

• put mosquito bars on the vents;
• set traps;
• remove food products from public access;
• lubricate the baseboards with attracting gel or other means;
• eliminate plumbing problems;
• treat all living areas with an insecticidal agent.

Such measures are sometimes not enough and you will have to carry out comprehensive disinfection using strong insecticides.

Where can I complain if my neighbors have cockroaches?

You have seen with your own eyes how cockroaches are crawling towards you from a neighboring apartment, but your neighbors categorically refuse to poison the insects at home. What should I do?

Contact:

• the prosecutor's office, having prepared a collective statement from several residents;
• city ​​administration and ask them to protect your interests;
• SES and wait for an on-site inspection at your address. Based on the results of the inspection, a conclusion on the examination will be drawn up.

An SES employee will inspect the neighbor’s apartment, document the presence of insects and issue a conclusion on the diagnostics carried out.

Before inviting a specialist, make sure that he has the right to issue an inspection report. This document will be required in court. It is possible to oblige neighbors to carry out pest control only through legal proceedings.

You can complain about your neighbors to the HOA, housing office or management company. It is important that your home is in order, there are no pipes leaking, and it is clean. Otherwise, the SES may bring claims against you in the form of a lawsuit.

When neighbors poison insects, they are obliged to warn you. Otherwise, the surviving individuals will enter your apartment and take up residence in it. When carrying out disinfestation, it is necessary to notify neighbors so that they take appropriate measures:

• cracks and cracks were filled with putty;
• repaired faulty plumbing;
• food and water were removed;
• set traps;
• they applied “protective” markings using “Mashenka” chalk;
• washed the floor with ammonia

Which services to contact?

All residents of apartment buildings should know where to complain about cockroaches crawling from neighboring apartments, or where to complain about neighbors who improperly poison parasites and do not warn residents of adjacent apartments about their actions. First of all, the sanitary and epidemiological station is responsible for disinfestation and deratization, so you need to contact them there.

A representative of this service must come, conduct an investigation, record all violations and then issue a conclusion to the applicant. Before inviting such a specialist, it is necessary to describe the current situation to him in detail and make sure that he has the right to issue documents that would confirm the inspection.

An official document allows you to go to court or write complaints against neighbors to various authorities. Only this approach will make it possible to force a neighbor to carry out pest control of the apartment.

You can also call or write to the housing and communal services office . Sometimes you need to go to the service; they don’t take calls seriously.

Besides, don’t complain, but the cockroaches won’t get away with it. Sometimes you can’t do without commercial services that provide professional disinfection. If you are lucky and all the neighbors are adequate, then you need to agree on simultaneous complex processing.

To do this, you will need to leave the apartment for a while. We also need to jointly carry out a general cleaning of the premises and entrance.

“The case is being heard” about cockroaches

When it was not possible to reach an agreement with the neighbors and the matter went to court, forced disinfestation had to be demanded. The statements of the SES and other authorities to which the requests were sent are attached to the statement of claim against the neighbors.

Claims for forced cleaning of an apartment are considered without much difficulty. But this requires at least a month. The court decision is transferred to the SES and the Bailiff Service. It becomes the basis for forced disinfestation of the neighbor’s apartment. The execution of the court decision will also take some time.

How to determine that cockroaches are from neighbors

If the apartment is clean and food is out of reach of parasites, we can confidently conclude that cockroaches are entering from the outside.

To determine which neighbor is to blame for this situation, it is recommended to share the problem with each of them. You should ask if they have encountered this situation and what they did to get rid of the insects. Perhaps the culprit admits that cockroaches also live in his apartment. Read also: “Bedbugs are crawling from neighbors: what to do, where to go”

This method does not guarantee a 100% result, but there is still a chance to clarify the circumstances.

If you can’t determine where the parasites are coming from, you can try to track their movement. To do this, you need to turn the light on and off several times at night.

Most often insects migrate through:

• ventilation system;
• Electricity of the net;
• cracks in the walls;
• doorways.

It is necessary to determine where the cockroaches are fleeing from in the largest numbers and eliminate access:

• cover up the cracks;
• install mosquito nets on windows;
• attach a fine mesh to the ventilation hole.

We advise you to read: “Unpleasant smell from your neighbors’ apartment: where to complain and what measures to take.”

Who should poison cockroaches?

The management company is responsible for the sanitary condition of the house and surrounding area. If cockroaches enter an apartment from the basement, entrance or garbage chute, according to Article 161 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the management company is obliged to urgently carry out disinfestation.

Planned extermination of insects is carried out once a year. Unscheduled - at the request of residents. The management company must pay for calling an exterminator on its own. Pest control costs are already included in the rent.

If the management company refuses to fight insects, residents have the right to complain to the prosecutor's office. To do this, it is necessary to collect signatures from at least 80% of the residents of the house or entrance.

In the case where children live in an apartment with unfavorable sanitary conditions, neighbors can write a collective appeal to the guardianship authorities. Guardianship will sort out the situation as quickly as possible.

How to protect yourself from insects

If insects have settled in one of the apartments of a multi-story building, and no one is poisoning them, then we should expect that they will soon infest other dwellings. In this case, to completely eradicate them, all apartments and utility rooms will have to be treated at the same time.

How to get rid of cockroaches

Caulking holes and cracks in the room will prevent cockroaches from entering

To prevent pests from entering the house from neighbors, you should immediately equip all ventilation vents with fine mesh nets. Mosquito nets should be placed on window openings. The threshold leading to the entrance should be coated with Mashenka chalk or insecticidal gel, and the baseboards should also be treated. To prevent cockroaches from entering sewer pipes, you should close the drain hole at night.

It is very important to agree on joint actions with the owners of the hotbed apartment. If neighbors do not deny the existence of insects and agree to coordinated pest control, then everyone should poison the pests at the same time. Otherwise, insects will constantly migrate from one apartment to another.

Sealing cracks in risers will also protect you from cockroaches.

If the owners of an infected apartment refuse to take joint action and do not respond to persuasion and warnings, you can contact the regional sanitary and epidemiological station with a request for an inspection. The organization is obliged to consider the application and issue a conclusion whether the specified living space is a source of pest spread or not. In addition, if the answer is positive, she will oblige negligent neighbors to carry out the necessary processing, and will subsequently check the result.

Just in case, you should secure your home from entry by fugitives by eliminating any cracks and openings between apartments. The gaps behind heating pipes, baseboards and electrical appliances through which insects escape from neighbors must be covered with a solution. Sometimes, after eliminating pests, residents tend to make repairs. This useful measure can protect against the penetration of cockroaches from neighboring rooms, thanks to the high-quality finishing of ceilings, floors and walls.

You also need to put a mosquito net on the balcony door

In summer, insects can enter through an open balcony door, especially when someone is poisoning them, so the opening should be treated with an insecticide or repellent.

What do cockroaches do while the trial is going on?

During its life, one insect lays from 20 to 90 clutches, each of which contains from 15 to 60 eggs. Cockroaches lay eggs in a special protective capsule called an ooteca. The durable pouch protects the larvae for several weeks from poisons, moisture and temperature changes.

The female lays eggs in a dark, inaccessible place. And when they hatch, everything starts again. For this reason alone, the fight against insects should not be left to chance and should not be given time to settle down. The longer cockroaches live in a house, the more of them there are.

Courts are good for cockroaches. Therefore, if you were unable to reach an agreement with your neighbors, do not hesitate and contact an exterminator. Our specialists will destroy cockroaches at any time and on any day.

If you need a guaranteed result, call us or fill out the feedback form. A company employee will advise you on the exact cost of the service and book an exterminator visit on a date and time convenient for you.

Where are they crawling from?

The reason cockroaches appear where there were none before is their natural migration:

• having multiplied, they felt crowded in their neighbors’ territory, and they flocked to you;
• the neighbors declared war on the uninvited guests, and the surviving part of the population urgently moved through the ventilation ducts and cracks in the floor to new places;
• the scout is hiding in purchases brought from the supermarket, and if it is a female, then a brood of parasites is inevitable;
• someone received a package from an online store located in a distant, hot country, where everything is very cheap, but sanitation is not so good;
• someone likes to travel and stay in inexpensive (!) hotels, hostels, etc. and leaves the house full of things brought from the trip unattended for a long time;
• someone lent someone an item that they took on a voyage and returned without washing it, and with it the female parasite.

Watch a video about why cockroaches appear in an apartment or house:

Neighbors don't want to poison cockroaches...

Unfortunately, this situation is not uncommon. You poison pests again and again by calling disinfectants and wasting a lot of money on the most modern chemicals, but they continue to creep in from your neighbors. What to do in this case? Where to complain?

Only a court decision can oblige unscrupulous residents to get rid of cockroaches.

This is a long and painstaking procedure. Your application will be accepted only with substantiated evidence: certificates from the sanitary inspection, housing office and management company in whose custody the house is located.

It’s easier to politely talk to your neighbors and try to convince them of the need for joint disinfection. Do not stoop to intimidation and make unnecessary threats. This method is unlikely to change the opinion of unyielding neighbors.

Treat the conversation as an opportunity to show your natural sociability and ability to negotiate even with the most difficult interlocutors. If an attempt to come to a common decision orally fails and no persuasion or argument works, write a statement of complaint to Rospotrebnadzor.

Means for repelling cockroaches from the apartment

When considering how to remove cockroaches, many owners prefer to turn to traditional methods. This could be washing floors with ammonia, hanging plants with a pungent odor on the walls, treating with acetone, turpentine, etc. But this method has a clear drawback - all substances are harmful to humans and pets. Flammable mixtures are generally dangerous and there is a high risk of fire.

As for ready-made mixtures and traps, they also do not always show 100% efficiency. Chalk, powders, and baits work selectively; eliminating pests from an apartment infested with hordes of insects is much more difficult. A cockroach repeller will help here.

An insect repeller does not destroy pests, but expels them from the apartment - a clear advantage. The owner will not have to sweep out the dead individuals, there will be none. Additional advantages of using cockroach repellers include:

1. Versatility. The devices work in any room and conditions.
2. Efficiency. When installed correctly, the insect repeller will rid the room of cockroaches and other pests. The device generates a sound-vibration wave, which causes physical discomfort to pests. They try to leave the premises as quickly as possible, which is what the owner of the apartment needs.
3. Safety. The ultrasonic cockroach repeller is safe for people and pets. It does not emit harmful vapors or compounds, and does not interact with moisture or air.

An insect repeller will help solve the problem of how to remove cockroaches, even if a mentally ill person lives next to you. There are neighbors who bring things into the apartment from trash bins. The home turns into a breeding ground for infection, cockroaches crawl out of every crack. No amount of chalk or kerosene will cope with the task, but a cockroach repeller will help even in this difficult situation. All you need to do is buy a device of sufficient power, install it in accordance with the operating rules and put it into operation.

You should not hope for a miracle - cockroaches will not disappear in a couple of hours, the cockroach repeller generates a protective field over time. This is what distinguishes reliable and high-quality devices from fakes. If they tell you that a repeller will remove all insects in a day, this is a fake. To avoid making a mistake with your choice, call us. A specialist will help you choose a device in accordance with your requirements and apartment features.

Collaboration

If neighbors agree to poison insects through joint efforts, it is recommended to seek professional help. In order for SES staff to carry out the appropriate processing, you must submit an application. Specialists will arrive 2 weeks after your application.

The service has at its disposal reliable means to which cockroaches have not yet developed immunity. The effectiveness of disinfestation in this case has a high degree of probability.

Processing several apartments at once is considered the preferred option. Firstly, there is confidence that insects will not come again from neighbors. Secondly, it is cheaper to carry out disinfestation in several rooms at once than separately.

Neighbors are poisoning cockroaches...

The situation is the opposite - the neighbors quickly began disinfecting their apartment. It would seem to be a much more sensible and correct decision, but there are pitfalls here too.

In this case, there are two main problems for the remaining residents of the apartment building:

1. Insects can move to them.

To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to take preventive measures: cover up all the holes and cracks where cockroaches crawl in first, place traps near ventilation systems, clean the apartment, put food supplies in inaccessible places and wipe the pipes dry.

1. Odor when etching with specific agents, such as dichlorvos.

Neighbors must warn all residents about the planned event and obtain their consent to the procedure. If anyone living in the entrance is against it, you will have to abandon the idea or poison the cockroaches with odorless products.

There are cases in which residents become aware of insect poisoning by the smell. This is a gross violation of the rights of neighbors and a serious reason to complain to Rospotrebnadzor.

Cockroaches in basements and entrances are the responsibility of the management authority

As we said above, the management authority (or HOA) is required to monitor the order, cleanliness and sanitary condition of entrances and basements in an apartment building.

Part 1.1 of Article 161 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation obliges the management authority to maintain the common property of the owners of an apartment building in accordance with sanitary and epidemiological standards. And according to paragraph 23 of the Minimum List of Services and Works Necessary to Ensure the Proper Maintenance of Common Property in an Apartment Building, and the Procedure for their Provision and Implementation, the Management Authority must, if necessary, carry out disinfestation of the premises included in the common property. For failure to comply with this requirement, Article 6.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for administrative liability, and Article 236 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal liability.

Therefore, if cockroaches have settled not only in your apartment, but also in common areas, contact the management organization. Call the emergency dispatch service (ADS) or directly to the management authority (or homeowners association) and submit a request. Employees will have to inspect the common areas in the house and draw up a report. If cockroaches are found, the Department will carry out disinfestation. If your request was not responded to or the disinfestation was carried out poorly, you can file a complaint with the State Housing Inspectorate and Rospotrebnadzor.

Common mistakes

The effectiveness and safety of cockroach baiting will decrease if:

1. Use potent poisons in homes where there are pets and children.
2. Do not follow safety precautions when working with cockroach poisons.
3. Combine repellers with baits.
4. Limit yourself to one-time processing.
5. Carry out bullying separately from neighbors.
6. It is incorrect to dispose of dead animals.

The last point is explained by the fact that the DNA of cockroaches contains a gene responsible for recognizing toxic substances. Thanks to it, the insect, upon contact with the sprayed poison, loses consciousness, but does not die. If you throw such an individual in the trash, after the poison wears off, it will return to life.

To prevent this from happening, cockroaches should be flushed down the toilet.