Cockroaches
Why Cockroaches Take to Hendon's Larger Shared Kitchens
German cockroaches, the small light-brown species found indoors, need warmth, moisture, food and tight places to hide. A kitchen shared by seven or eight tenants offers all four. The motors at the back of two or three fridges and a freezer keep the wall behind them warm day and night, the sink and dishwasher keep it damp, and food is prepared at every hour. Where cockroaches hide in kitchens shows how little space they need.
How they arrive
They are almost always carried in rather than walking in from outside. A second-hand fridge or microwave bought for the house, a box of food from somewhere already affected, or a tenant's bags moving from one let to another can all bring a few. In a house where people change every year, there are more of those chances than in a family home. How cockroaches get into properties covers the routes.
Flats above shops
The other place they turn up in Hendon is the flats above shops on Brent Street and around Hendon Central, where a warm commercial space below shares pipework and voids with the home above. If you live over a food business, it is worth telling your landlord and asking whether the shop has had any treatment.
Honestly: Family Houses in Hendon
In an ordinary interwar semi with one family and one fridge, cockroaches are uncommon. If you see a single large dark beetle-like insect in a garden-facing room in summer, it may be a ground beetle that wandered in, or an oriental cockroach from a drain. German and oriental cockroaches helps you tell which you have, and describing it when you book is enough to decide what happens next.
A self-contained flat in a purpose-built block is somewhere between the two. If neighbours in the block report cockroaches too, it is worth telling the managing agent, because shared pipework can carry them from flat to flat.
Signs in a Shared Kitchen
- Small insects scattering when the kitchen light goes on late at night
- Droppings like ground pepper along the top of skirting boards and inside cupboard hinges
- Brown egg cases or shed skins behind the fridges or under the cooker
- A musty, oily smell in the cupboard under the sink
- Cockroaches seen in daylight, which suggests there are a lot of them
The signs of a cockroach infestation goes into each of these.
Before the Visit
Tell us whether it is a whole house or a flat, how many people share the kitchen, and where cockroaches have been seen. Stop using shop-bought sprays, which tend to push them deeper into the gaps. Clear the worktops and the floor in front of the appliances, and let every tenant know the date, because everyone's shelf and cupboard will need to be reached. You will be told what was found and what happens next, and how long it takes depends on how established they are. If numbers are not dropping, call back rather than reaching for another spray.
Keeping a Shared Kitchen Clear
Once they have gone, the kitchen needs a routine that does not depend on one conscientious tenant: no food or dirty dishes left out overnight, bins emptied daily, and appliances pulled out and cleaned behind at every changeover. Check any second-hand appliance before it goes in. Small insects on the worktop that are ants rather than cockroaches are covered by ant control in Hendon, and droppings along with gnawed packets suggest mice. Preventing cockroaches returning has more, and Cockroach Control Barnet covers the blocks and commercial kitchens of the borough.
