Can oriental cockroaches come in because of damp?

[DropDeadNed]

We've been trying to get our landlord to fix the damp for over a year. The house is very old, detached and the floor is basically paving stones. The damp has become increasingly worse over time - we have woodlouse, there are literally plants and moss growing on the kitchen floor, our feet are wet and filthy just walking on it. We try to keep it as clean as we can with a toddler. Our food is in tupperware etc and we sweep but can't mop the floor as it becomes muddy. We run a dehumidifier at great cost and little effect and use bleach to kill the mould.

The garden is also huge and we try to keep it cut but it's very high maintainance. To the back of the house is overgrown but quite inaccessible. I've sprayed it with glyphosate as it's infested with green alkanet but can't actually reqfh it to chop it all.

Over the last fortnight I've found dead black beetles, two in the bathroom, one in the kitchen and then last year one upturned and dying on its back in the kitchen. They are large and black and I think they're oriental cockroaches. This is obviously repulsive and makes me feel like a slattern and worried. Today I emptied all the cupboards of anything that was open, made sure everything not tinned was tightly sealed and disinfected all surfaces. I feel disgusted, we have a toddler. I contacted pest control who will charge £132 an hour. We're a single wage family, it's a lot of money.

What I'd like to know is is the cockroach issue a result or exacerbated by the damp problem? If so can I tell the landlord he needs to contribute to the cost?

We're currently trying to move but we're on partial housing benefit so it's very hard to find somewhere.

[wowfudge]

Do you have a photo of the beetles? Honestly from what you have said about your living conditions and that you have asked the LL to act, but he hasn't then go to Environmental Health at the local council.

[DropDeadNed]

No but I will take one next time. I'm deathly frightened of them! Yeah, we've avoided doing that as are afraid of being homeless and he's also arsey about the garden and always turns it round on us, depute this being an actual health risk. We know if we get environmental health in he will make life hell or kick us out. He keeps promising he'll do repairs but never does them and when he does it'll be hugely disruptive. We need to move but despite me having a decent full time job and a freelance one nobody will take us because of partial housing benefit.

[wowfudge]

It's illegal for a LL to carry out a revenge eviction and EH can compel him to do the work.

[meditrina]

I've lived in Asia and the local cockroaches were not associated with damp.

They used to wander in to most households from time to time and we used to use a horribly toxic spray killer on them (Baygon, and I think there was a version of Raid as well).

They're probably living somewhere outside your house, and going for a wander sometimes. Not much help, but it's quite likely that they'll come in only once in a blue moon.

[DropDeadNed]

I'm not taking any chances with cockroaches so the pest control people are coming tomorrow. I'm actually not 100% sure it was a cockroach - they could possibly have been ground beetles. But finding a few in a short period where you'd expect to find oriental cockroaches means I do need to investigate it properly.

I know revenge evictions are illegal, but the landlord can still make our life hell.

[DropDeadNed]

It was a beetle! And I'm a massive idiot!