Pest help for NYC apartment residents

Pest control in a shared building is a coordination problem. The resident, building staff, management and the pest professional each see a different part of it, and control improves when those pieces stay connected. Start here if you want the whole picture.

Something is in my apartment right now

The first thing to do, and how to report it so it gets looked at.

There are roaches in my apartment. What should I do first? Reporting it in the form that gets an inspection rather than a spray. How do I keep mice out of my apartment? A quarter of an inch, and the six places to check for it. I think I have bed bugs. What should I do tonight? What helps tonight, and the instinctive moves that make it worse. Is this a waterbug or a cockroach? Why the answer changes what gets inspected, and the photo that settles it.

It keeps coming back

Why treatment alone can leave the problem in place.

Why do I still have roaches after the exterminator came? What persistent activity usually means, and the question that gets a diagnosis. Can roaches come from another apartment? Wall voids, pipe runs and door gaps, and why the pattern across a building matters. Pests started after plumbing, construction or repair work. Could it be related? New openings, disturbed harborage, and why the timing is the message.

The treatment itself

What was used, how long to stay out, and what to do about the appointment.

What did the exterminator use, and is it safe around my kids or pets? The information is required to be available to you. What to ask for. How long do I need to stay out after pest control? There is no universal number, and any answer that does not name a product is a guess. The exterminator appointment doesn't work for me. What should I do? Why a skipped apartment can leave part of the problem uninspected. How do I prepare for bed bug treatment? What preparation is trying to achieve, and what to do if you cannot do it.

Neighbours, moving, and who is responsible

What a case next door means for you, what to do when you move, and where the obligation sits.

My neighbor has bed bugs. What should I do? Asking to be inspected, and what an inspection is looking for. I'm moving. How do I avoid bringing bed bugs with me? The empty apartment is the easiest inspection you will ever do. Is my landlord responsible for roaches or mice in NYC? What the obligation covers, which is more than sending an exterminator.

How this library is written

Most advice about pests in an apartment is written to reassure you or to alarm you. This is written by the people who do the work, and it is built to be checked rather than believed.

Nothing here implies the problem is your fault. In an apartment building, pest activity can be sustained by leaks, openings and conditions in other parts of the building entirely. Spotless apartments get roaches, and bed bugs have nothing to do with cleanliness.
We tell you what is happening before we tell you what to do. An instruction you understand is one you will actually follow, and one you can adapt when your situation is different.
Rules, agency guidance and our own practice are marked separately. When a page cites a rule it names the rule and what it applies to. When a page tells you what we would do, it says so.
No comfortable answers that contradict the rest of the library. If the honest answer is that there is no universal number, the page says that instead of picking one.

We are a pest control company, not your attorney and not your landlord. This is general information, not advice about your apartment or your lease.

Do you manage or own the building?

There is a separate reference for HPD pest violations, Local Law 55, tenant access and certification.

NYC pest compliance