How to Get Rid of Roaches Coming From My Neighbors Property?

Anyone who’s dealt with a roach infestation before knows how exhausting it can be. Even if you manage to keep your house clean and organized, if you have dirty neighbors that have roaches, you’re going to be fighting a never ending battle. After doing some research on how to get rid of roaches coming from my neighbors, I decided to put together this post in order to hopefully help other people dealing with the same issue.

The most effective way to get rid of roaches coming from your neighbors, is to make your home undesirable and unlivable for them. Keep everything clean and organized. You should politely speak with your neighbor about the roach problem. If that doesn’t work, contact an exterminator immediately.

If you have a problem with filthy neighbors who don’t clean up their surroundings, you’ll likely find their roaches and bugs coming onto your property. Instead of going through the hassle of filing lawsuits and suing your neighbors for roaches, check out our tips and advice to make sure your neighbor’s roaches never end up on your property in the first place.

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Why Do I Have Roaches In My Clean Apartment?

What if you live in an apartment you work so hard on to maintain its pristine condition? And then all of a sudden, you saw a roach scurrying around on the floor. This would surely set you off but understand that it happens.

Even if you take out the trash religiously and not leave any unwashed dishes on the sink, your clean apartment can still be invaded. Roaches can still thrive, breed, and turn your home into a nest.

Does One Roach Mean An Infestation?

What if you saw one roach in your home? Does it mean your clean apartment is already infested or is it simply an isolated case of a lost roach?

The bad news is that seeing one roach does mean there are more somewhere in your home. Roaches thrive in groups and emit the chemical pheromones as an attractant. In other words, they use this natural chemical to call on or signal others so they can stay close to each other.

If you’re not sure about the severity of an infestation, it’s time to call a professional to help you on the matter.

How Roaches Get To Your Home

When it comes to roaches, it’s easy to assume that they generally live in a dirty, unkempt environment, but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they won’t visit a clean home. There are several ways a roach can do this:

• Access to wet or damp areas
• Access to low-light spots
• Access to entry points such as spaces under the door, cracks, and crevices
• If you live in a roach-prone area
• If your neighbor (or neighbors) is roach-infested

One way in which roaches will still end up in a well-maintained house is a damp area. Roaches have an affinity to wet areas, such as standing water, as well as that bowl of water you leave overnight for your pet. 

Roaches also like to live in the dark, so if you have a spot that doesn’t receive a generous amount of light, the pests could turn that into their sanctuary.

Another way cockroaches can enter your home is through cracks and crevices, as well as the spaces under your door. And despite the cleanliness, you could still be visited especially if you live in areas that are known to be roach-prone.

For instance, if you live in New Orleans, Houston, or Miami, then you will likely experience roach problems. These cities in the Southern part are found to have the worst roach infestation, based on a survey.

Lastly, if you have a neighbor that can’t control their roach problems, you could end up being the receiving end. If this is the case for you, you might want to talk to your neighbor to deal with the problem. We will discuss more about this bit in the next section.

Can You Get Roaches If Your Neighbor Has Them?

Cockroaches are opportunistic critters, which means they will most likely find a place ideal as their nest if it provides their basic requirements: food, water, and shelter. Now, you might believe that you are doing all that you can just to keep your surroundings clean, but if you have a neighbor (or neighbors) who does otherwise, then it’s likely you’re not safe.

If your community doesn’t treat roaches as a serious problem, you will likely have some finding their way into your home. To answer the question above, yes, roaches coming from neighbors apartment can end up on your property.

Can Roaches Travel From House To House?

Cockroaches that end up in your home may have already lived there when you  moved in. But if not, they can easily be transported from an infested area to a new place – your home. In other words, you may have unintentionally brought home a roach with you.

Roaches may have been carried over in your furniture or packed articles when you moved in. They may have also hitchhiked on the cardboard boxes you brought home. And of course, they can come from your neighbor as well, using the gaps under doors as entry points.

My Neighbor Has Roaches What Can I Do? 

In our previous article, we’ve discussed the legalities when it comes to having filthy neighbors with roaches. While it’s possible to sue a neighbor who you believe to be the source of the infestation, most likely it will be futile, unless you have strong proof that roaches are, indeed, coming from your neighbor.

Some people will take the route of suing their neighbors, while many others don’t want the trouble and would rather take the matters into their own hands. It’s worth noting that lawsuits should be the last resort if none of the preventive measures discussed below helps.

How To Keep Roaches Out Of The House? 

If you have a persistent roach problem, whether unintentionally caused by you or it’s from your neighbor, you have to take action to avoid uncontrollable infestation. Below are some tips we like to share with you:

• Avoid unintentionally bringing roaches – this would mean inspecting grocery bags or any boxes that you decide to bring home. These items, particularly corrugated boxe, are common ways for roach eggs to be transported. If you have to bring these items to your home, “quarantine” them first in an open area in your garage, ideally.
• Working in a roach-infested building can also make you transport a roach unintentionally.
• One helpful tip is to round the quarantined items with a roach killer. A good example to use is Eaton Insecticidal dust. You can use this around the item as a border and verify if there is indeed a roach in those items you just brought in.
• Avoid giving roaches anything they can access that will make them overstay. Keep your home as clean as possible. 
• Check for wet spots in your home. You’ll likely have this in your laundry room or the kitchen. If you have pipe leaks, that would be another attractant for roaches.
• Pipe leaks should be addressed as soon as possible so that your home will stay dry as much as possible.
• Roaches can also migrate through plumbing. If your share a common wall with your neighbor, then plumbing pipes within those walls can be used as an access for roaches.
• Store human and pet food properly. Go for storage containers with tight lids, such as these Vtopmart’s airtight food storage containers.
• As much as possible, don’t leave dishes on the sinks unwashed.
• Vacuum often – at least twice a week. Don’t miss out on the nooks and crannies in your home. If you spot deep cracks on walls, take out your borax and squirt some inside the cracks.
• Shuffle your appliances from time to time.
• All in all, a tidy home and keeping borax close by will be the perfect combination against roaches.

Meanwhile, If you are certain that your neighbor is the source of the infestation, you can politely tell them to address the problem. And if all else fails, contact an exterminator for help. You may also offer to shoulder a portion of the exterminating services if your neighbor doesn’t have the resources to do so.

Conclusion: How To Get Rid Of Roaches Coming From My Neighbors?

Roaches can come from different places through different means. The ones you have on your property may have been brought home by you without knowing it. At the same time, it could also come from your neighbor who has poor hygiene.

Regardless of where these pests come from, you have to do something to make sure they don’t extend their stay in your property. The most important thing to remember is that roaches love dark and damp places.

You could have the cleanest apartment in the neighborhood, but if there are spots in your home that are constantly wet or damp and don’t get exposed to light that much, a roach can easily turn it into its new home. Pretty soon, it would call on others as well.

Roaches are nasty creatures that bring diseases. They increase the risk of food poisoning and trigger allergies in some people. For those reasons, getting rid of them at all costs is extremely important.