Do i still have roaches?

Roaches in my apartment!?

• I just moved into this fourplex a month ago and when I moved in, the landlord said they had a leak in the water heater a few months ago but it's fixed and they haven't seen any roaches but they set out traps just in case. That very night we killed a juvenile roach. Ever since then, it's just gone downhill. I've NEVER had an issue with roaches before (never even seen a single one at my other apartments). I keep my place as clean as I can, take the trash out often, never leave water out, wipe up spills. Luckily, I haven't seen any adult roaches (knock on wood), but I kill a few juvenile and baby ones every day. I've even seen a hatched egg sac (lifted up a box and all these babies just scattered...ughh). I might run out of this giant, new can of Black Flag before the end of March, if this continues! The landlord has dropped off traps, bait, and borax. They offered to spray but I know that's only a temporary fix. I've set the traps/bait throughout the apartment, sprinkled the borax along every wall. Still get roaches. The landlord tells us it's coming from the lady in the unit behind us, and that she does not want them to fumigate. The couple in the unit next to us say they've had issues for at least a year. Is there a way to terminate this lease or force the landlord to fumigate, even though one tenant does not want them to? I'm sick of the roaches, sick of inhaling Black Flag fumes all day...yesterday I killed one that crawled out of my cooking utensils drawer and another that was crawling on my pillow :(

• Answer:

  I would tell your landlord that you're moving unless he fixes the problem completely. You may not actually be able to, but put the pressure on a little, in as nice a way as possible. It's his responsibility to fix this problem. Otherwise you can call the health department or rental inspection department of your city, if they have one. He knows he has to get rid of that nasty person, he just doesn't want to deal with it. Push back, gently at first, and see how he responds.