As many as 84% of American property owners have experienced a pest problem in the past twelve months. And almost 25% have experienced structural damage as a result of common pests like termites, ants, mice, wasps, and spiders. It's important apartment owners take steps to prevent and deal with pests and keep their properties clean and safe.

 

 

Clean regularly

It's essential to keep high-traffic areas, bathrooms, janitorial areas, refuse areas, and food preparation areas consistently clean to ensure they stay pest free. Give your cleaning staff a daily cleaning schedule and make sure they follow correct cleaning protocol. They should know which areas can be prone to attracting pests and effective cleaning methods to best keep junk and debris at bay. It's important to keep thorough records of cleaning schedules and pest prevention methods, so you can better understand which methods are effective and which aren't. You should also make sure all your staff know to report any pest issues they notice as soon as possible.

 

Call an exterminator

If you already have a pest problem, a professional exterminator can eliminate pests and restore your property. With pest problems, all units within one apartment block must be treated at the same time. This is because pests can simply move over to the next apartment each time you attempt to solely treat one affected space. While hiring a pest control company can be costly, you'll end up making long term savings as it can help ensure your apartment block stays permanently pest free. By blocking all entry and exit points, the survival of just one pest becomes increasingly unlikely and significantly ups the odds of eliminating pests for good.

 

Keep tenants informed

While apartment owners may understandably not want to inform tenants about potential pest problems for fear of damaging their reputation and businesses, it's important to remain honest and open. This way, you can better build trust with your tenants and work together to prevent pest problems, which in turn strengthens your reputation. Consider distributing printed literature that explains which pests are commonly found in apartment buildings, effective cleaning methods to keep pests at bay, warning signs of pest problems, and how tenants should report any problems they notice.

 

Pests can be a major problem for apartment owners. Fortunately, by following these effective pest-prevention tips, it's possible to keep pests permanently at bay.