New Tenant - Apt has roaches

My daughter moved into an apartment complex three weeks ago. After her first day there, she found roaches in her apartment eating through her bags and boxes of food. She contacted the landlord and they said they would have the apartment exterminated, which they did. My daughter talked to the exterminator, and he said that the only way to successfully get rid of the roaches is to exterminate the entire building.

After the exterminator sprayed my daughters apartment, she was still finding more live roaches than dead ones. She has set off many bug bombs of her own to try and get rid of them. The landlord said she was going to post a notice and have the entire building exterminated. But this never happened.

My daughter has only slept at this apartment one night in the past 3 weeks because of the roaches and still has not unpacked. We would like her to get out of this lease and get her security deposit back claiming unfit living conditions. Is this possible?

She cannot get out of the lease yet. She needs to send a written notice to the LL stating that the unit has a continuing problem with roaches and explaining that the only way to get rid of them is to have the entire building exterminated. Ask that the LL contact her to tell her when this will be done. Send it by certified mail, RRR, and keep a copy. If the LL fails to act after receiving this letter, she should call the health department or the building inspector. They will cite the LL and require him to act. Get a copy of the inspector's report and citation. If he still fails to address the problem, she can then terminate with all the copies of the notices as legal proof of the failure to repair.

I just went through a simular situation. Today is sunday and on friday night I signed a lease and moved into what I thought was a beautiful apartment im Manchester nh. In only 2 days I have been bit by bug bites and sd een live roaches!!! I am a mother of a one year old and I work 2 jobs and attend college u am only 22!! I called the landlord and he yelled at me

I just went through a simular situation. Today is sunday and on friday night I signed a lease and moved into what I thought was a beautiful apartment im Manchester nh. In only 2 days I have been bit by bug bites and sd een live roaches!!! I am a mother of a one year old and I work 2 jobs and attend college u am only 22!! I called the landlord and he yelled at me at the top of his lungs and questioning me that I was bit because he had an exterminator come in. I found this to be extremely inappropriate. I was a dull and play with him during this entire phone call of being yelled at earlier today. I have never dealt with this problem, I have seen a few live roaches and have bed bug bites on me already! I am not sure what to do after this blatant disrespect after I simply called out of being a concerned parent. I was not warned or told Pacificly what was going on. Tomarrow is monday and I am thinking I might have to pay to have 1 come in myself, he claims one is coming in after Labor Day but who knows this is very sad especially since I have no place to go , I have all brand new furniture and things that I cannot afford to replace . I honestly saw hope when I saw this ... Thank you

[Franklin]

That's one of the drawbacks of living in a complex. You can inherit other peoples' problems. The only thing you can really do is make the apartment as air tight as humanly possible so no other roaches get in, and then set off bombs.

[Friend In Court]

Insect or rodent-infested dwellings violate health and safety codes of every jurisdiction I know of in the U.S.

When a landlord refuses to cure a pest problem, and promptly, the remedy is to turn the premises in to the county health/building department. They come and inspect and if they find the pests, will order the landlord to correct the problem by a certain date. If he does not comply, then can fine him and/or sticker the place as unfit for human habitation.

The LL has addressed this issue for her apartment. Perhaps your daughter could help things by putting her bags and boxes of food in sealed containers so the roaches cannot get in to have a feed-a-thon.

Your daughter may want to be pro-active and lay a fine powder line of boric acid or diatemaceous earth along the perimeter of her unit, and include below the sinks areas, inside the cupboard areas, etc etc. Within a couple of weeks, she should be roach-free.

Be sure to keep pets away from this stuff as it's not too good for them to eat or lick. If there are pets or children around, you can still use either thing effectively and safely if you know where to put it--out of the reach of pets and children.

Yeah, it should be the LL doing this, but he can prove he addressed the issue for her unit. Period. She may want to do things herself as these products are cheaper than her tenancy being terminated and her having to move because she is complaining that the entire building must be treated.