The *Gasp* Uncooperative Resident

A resident that has been here for a little over a year recently reported that her apartment is overrun by cockroaches. Of course we had the exterminator out several times, provided the checklist of before/after and also followed up with gel treatment. In the several discussions with the resident I told her that she has to be proactive by removing food sources: pasta bags, rice-a-roni boxes, ripe fruit sitting on the counter, jars/bottles in the cabinets that have contents dried up on the side of the glass, toaster sitting on the counter that has breadcrumbs in it, clean the area around the stove that is covered with grease. It is literally sticky with grease buildup. She got upset at all this and I told her that it's not that she's messy it's that this is a food source. We even pulled out the stove and found all kinds of food stuff around/under it and cleaned it for her, including the top of the stove that was coated with grease. She said nothing had changed. So, we went a differet route and I went to home depot and bought $100 worth of cockroach killer stuff and had that placed all over the apartment.

While in there with the maintenance people, we noticed that she had done nothing to remove food sources - there was still food left out all over. I posted a letter on her door and explained that the cockroach bait may not be as effective as it could be because there is still alternate food available for them and said that open food should either be placed in an airtight container or the frig and the wall area around the stove should be cleaned with a degreaser - please do keep in mind this is not a difficult process as the backsplash is granite and porcelain tile - there is no opportunity for anything to saturate a material like this. I checked the surrounding apartments and none have reported cockroaches, but as a preventative had them baited - no cockroaches. I'm just at a loss of what to do next. At this point, I have no choice but to beleive that she introduced the bugs into the apartment, of course unintentinally. No one other apartments have reported bugs, and the resident with the problem won't cooperate because she's "offended" at the thought that it might have something to do with her. Quite frankly, I think it's much more offensive to have a cockroach crawling over your countertop than to be expected to cooperate.

Any suggestions on another step or how to deal with this resident to get her to cooperate?

We have had this issue at someo of our communities. We now have a "housekeeping" letter, a follow-up inspection letter, and a 21/30 all just to address this issue. We also now include a pest addendum in our lease agreement stating that if you do not report pest issues within 30 days of move in we can charge back cost to treat. I would be happy to share these with you if you send me an email.
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Hi Stephanie, I sent you an email offline about the forms - thanks. Being California, we have a bedbug addendum, and of course the lease contains standard verbiage regarding damage to the premises and requirement to report it. However, I'll gladly take the forms and bounce them off the atty to see if they apply in this instance/state.

I think I'm overstressing on this issue because, and this is related to another topic actually, some crazy poster has my community confused with others in the area and keeps swearing up and down that there have been multiple shootings and murders here. This is a quiet, almost senior citizen type of environment with a few young families with preschoolers or infants so I don't even know where this is coming from. Residents have graciously posted their own opinions on the community but the crazy poster keeps claming they're all fake reviews. It's just ridiculous.

Check your Lease. It should state that uncooperative Residents are subject to pay back for all pest control costs and should they continue to fail their housekeeping inspections, they can be evicted. I have started eviction proceedings against Residents who refuse to practice housekeeping procedures that will end pest control problems. In 99% of these cases, the Resident beame cooperative. The other 1%'s Lease was not renewed. I agree wholeheartedly with issuing the initial violation letters, having follow up inspections and 30-Day Notice to Evict. It is good fortune that no other Residents have suffered this pest control infestation.

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies. We have all the appropriate lease verbiage, addendums, etc, I was looking for a way to talk to the resident to get her to understand without having to go to this extreme. I do realize that sometimes we do have to do this, and I have had to do so in the past, I was just frustrated and not wishing to lose a resident over this and yes I understand that it does happen regardless of how the situation is handled. Again thank for the replies, much appreciated

Being a manager on the Gulf Coast we have problems with the roaches as well. As you know this is a huge health and safety issue. Because of her uncooperation, I would start photograping the apartment, charging her for pest control, and finally send her a lease termination if she cannot get with the program. The photographing of the apartments always gets my residents going. They hate it when I have my camera in hand when I do inspections.

Maybe you could offer to clean the apartment for her for a charge, and then give her the opportunity to avoid the charge by cleaning her own apartment? In your letter, perhaps you tell her that you do not want to start 21/30 stuff, but you will have no choice if she doesn't clean the apartment or allow you to have someone come in because it will cause a problem to other residents.

Hi Janet - I appraoched one Resident by taking a hands-on demo approach. I have to admit that when the RPM at the time found out, she said I was "too involved" and should spend my time in better ways. To this day, I feel the time I spent with this family was well spent. I actually went to the apartment and worked with the husband and wife while their small children were at school. I showed them all the grease build-up on the backsplash behind the stove. I provided the cleaning supplies (paid for out of my pocket)and taught them how to clean. I showed her on the floor where there were cooking splatters and showed her how to mop the floor. I had the maintenance supervisor pull the refrigerator out and he told the husband/wife they need to do this every week until the cleaning is right and the roaches are gone - and to keep doing this at least once every couple months afterward so that the exterminator's baiting method would work. We went room by room and they cleaned after I demonstrated. I think they were happy to be shown and they were compliant. I told them while I was there that if they did not keep their home clean, the roaches would never leave and then I would have no choice other than to evict. They understood THAT language. I also told them I would be in every week to check to make sure they weren't backsliding and it would be an unannounced visit. I know this was a successful approach because they eventually got off the Section 8 program and qualified for a first time homebuyer program. Their house was sometimes messy but it was never dirty, even years later.

First off we have been told it is against the law to buy any type of chemical and give to resident you are only allowed to have a pest control do the job. We were actually visited by the agriculture department and are waiting to see if we are going to be fined $5000.00 for spraying ourselves and giving residents bombs. So be very careful

It sounds to me like a 30/60 day notice to terminate is appropriate here and will solve your problem in approx 30-60 days. That's exactly what I would do.

BTW - I always take photos. You can take photos anywhere that you can see from where you are legally at. In other words, if a resident invites you into their home to look at a maint problem, or if you're maint personnel are in there working and you go in there to supervise them, and you see filth, take photos of it. They will come in handy later when dealing with problems with the resident regarding pests or other problems.

Well it seems that things are escalating pretty quickly. The resident stopped by the office for an unrelated issue, I asked her how the bug situation is going and she told me that there had been no change. I asked her if she'd taken any steps in regard to the letter I'd given her - she said well she'd done a few things but that she was only going to do so much cleaning - they're going to give me a 30 day notice on the 1st (they were month-to-month anyway going a few months before buying a house) and she's just going to leave it as is and not worry about cleaning and something to the effect of leaving us to deal with it. I told her OK, but at this point because you're not cooperating then we will most likely assess damages to the apartment once you're gone because there's been minimal to no cooperation. She chuckeld and said "we'll see". We've taken every step possible to help them with the situation, have told them orally and in writing that their cooperation is required and we're being told that they're not going to do anything to clean up the apartment. That's it's only an apartment and they're not really interested in keeping it clean. But the fiancee just called and wanted me to explain, I told him the same thing - he claimed that he believes their apartment is in the top 10% of cleanliness and I had to disagree and tell him I don't see apartments here where the backsplash and cabinet doors have a coating of grease on them. He tried to say the same thing, that it's only an apartment and I told him we're doing everything we can to help them, they're not cooperating with the letter so yes we would assess damages, the clean up and further extermination.

I'd told both of them that when I was in there that if I touched something in the stove area my hands were sticky afterwards from the grease. He now claims that when the stove is turned on that cockroaches come flooding out of the stove. I told him wow that's news to me - cockroaches flood out of the stove? Then changed it to 2 or 3. The resounding theme I get from them was well, we're only going to do so much cleaning. I offered to show them what I was talking about with the grease build up on the backsplash around the stove and on the cabinet doors but they declined. The fiancee did then tell me that they bought $30 worth of cleaning products the other day and this evening he is going to clean the areas I mentioned. They're both dropping hints that "well we haven't taken any action yet about this..." If they did they'd learn pretty quickly that they have responsibility in this also and their slackish minimal cooperation is most likely going to cost them a cleaning bill and extermiation service.

Unfortunately, this is going to be a no win situation. However, when they initially reported these bugs I immediately went to surrounding apartments and asked if they'd seen signs of cockroaches to which the answer was a unanimous "no" and had them treated anyway as a preventative. Well I have to get back to work - thanks for the suggestions.

Cheryl - yikes! Did someone really buy chemicals and just give them to your resident? That should never be done and I think this goes much further than "training" issues. If anyone did that I would wonder if they should be in the job. Regarding this being against the law, that may be applicable in your state but DIY (do it yourself) is not illegal everywhere - though generally frowned upon. But even if it's a diy situation, I would not imagine having the resident do it as that opens up sooo much liability upon the imminent failure of the fix :ohmy:

Okay~~here's what I would do~~~Have your pest control company inspect and treat the unit again if necessary. Have the pest control technician document the issues in the apartment. If they are truly a health hazard, issue a Health and Safety Hazard notice. This usually gives the resident a certain number of days to correct the issues. If the issues are not fixed, issue a 7 day notice (or the shortest notice allowed by you state)

When they move charge them for the additional cleaning and pest control.

This is not a situation that you are going to win with more discussion. Follow the legal process and allow it to play out. In the past, when I have given residents a 'Health & Hazard notice, the seem to wake up and clean up!!

Good luck!

"If you feed them, they will come." :ohmy: This is what I tell residents that have pest control issues. Fortunately our most common bug is flour bugs, but occasionally a unit will get roaches.

We have a housekeeping letter, but it's usually only used at annual inspection time. We can't do any unannounced or surprise inspections, but with my residents, usually a stern talking to (aka "Guilt trip") makes the difference.

Our next step is the non-compliance notice, then if the situation does not improve, we issue a For Cause notice that requires the problem cured within two weeks or else they must move out within 30 days. Only once has it come to the resident having to move out. Ironically, the resident cleaned the apartment to like-new condition at move out. If they had only cleaned up before they moved, they could have stayed.

Our rental agreement includes a pest control addendum which allows us to charge back extermination costs, but I find it much more cost effective to have the property cover it. A reputation for having an infestation is much more costly in the long run than paying for pest control. We also have quarterly inspections by a pest control company. Every year at budgeting time I consider cancelling the contract for lack of need, but I'm glad we still have it.

Notice to terminate wrote:

It sounds to me like a 30/60 day notice to terminate is appropriate here and will solve your problem in approx 30-60 days. That's exactly what I would do.

BTW - I always take photos. You can take photos anywhere that you can see from where you are legally at. In other words, if a resident invites you into their home to look at a maint problem, or if you're maint personnel are in there working and you go in there to supervise them, and you see filth, take photos of it. They will come in handy later when dealing with problems with the resident regarding pests or other problems.

+1 Hopefully you have documented the case very well. There should be no tolerance of this. While you may not have other apartments affected by this, you will. Then what will your action be. Document, Document, Document! Rid your self of this issue because it can unfold to a point that you will seriously regret it. Just my .02

Hi, thanks for the response but I wasn't looking for how to handle it in terms of legalities, was just looking for some idea on how to talk to get her to understand what she needs to do... had some great constructive replies to use but unfortunately some people just don't want to listen, or in this instance the resident told me: well it's an apartment so I'm only going to do so much cleaning.

I know I stood there for a moment and just stared at her realizing how much she just doesn't get it, then told her you that you're responsible for damages to the apartment. If we have to clean it then you will be charged for this as well as any other costs associated with having to remove infestation.

She smugly said we'll see.

Ok lady have it your way. However, later that day her fiancee advised me that he purchased $30 worth of cleaning supplies and he would work on it that evening.

Well since then (this was last week) she's submitted her 30 day notice.

Good deal! Sounds like a Win Win to me! Everyone hates a vacant unit but sometimes it is for the better.