to think I can buy some magic fairy dust to get rid of cockroaches

[Annnabellla]

In fact I've only seen one bloody great cockroach but I'm guessing he has mates.

Don't have funds to pay for fumigator people to come out and as house is own occupied its down to me.

Get a cat?

Cockroaches?

I'd burn the fecking house down.

I think you can buy cockroach traps, but to be honest, if you've seen one, there's probably about a thousand lurking under the floors etc.

Just doing a google finds you can buy sprays and things from supermarkets and diy stores. But to be honest I would try and find the money to get a man in because if the products you buy don't do the trick, you will have spent money anyway iyswim. Perhaps try phoning the council, see if they can help you.

The cockroach traps (I think) are really only a way of establishing that you've got an infestation and, later, when the traps are empty, that you've managed to deal with it. I bought some DIY fumigation devices - you lit them and they produced smoke that filled the kitchen and killed the cockroaches. It was necessary to seal all cupboards with tape to avoid contamination of food. This treatment was followed up be frequent spraying of insecticide. It is also possible to buy poisoned bait that the cockroaches eat and then pass on to other cockroaches.

With persistence, it is possible to deal with your own cockroach infestation if you cannot afford outside help. (Incidentally, your council will only be interested in dealing with council properties.)

this isn't very helpful, but the best thing for getting rid of cockroaches is a spray called Baygon.....unfortunately it's illegal in the UK because it is highly toxic, but it kills the buggers amazingly, and if you sprayed round doors and windows etc it stopped them getting in too.

Sprays are good - go round all the edges/skirting boards. Be careful if you have babies crawling around. But also, try and work out how they're getting in. Get some foam filler and fill in any little holes you find. Might need to look in the kitchen under the cabinets - especially where pipes come up.

DIATOMACEOUS EARTH is your friend :)

Try Powdered Borax, I sprinkle it around skirting boards and behind my fridge. I buy it in the supermarket but you can buy it online, it's not toxic and can be used in the laundry to remove stains and soften woollens. I absolutely cannot stand cockroaches and when I heard through a friend that fumigators use it I bought some immediately. It really does work, the cockroaches take it back to their nests on their legs and kills the rest of them. Urrggghh disgusting things.

Don't waste your money on bug bombs etc.

You need Goliath gel. It's a poison that tastes irresistible to them, they eat it and die after a few hours, and their mates eat them/ their droppings and die too. So it weeds out the entire colony.

You can get it online, but need to be a trained pest controller to use it. To be honest though, if I could not afford the pest control company I would take the risk and but Goliath and the gel gun myself and use it. You dab spots of gel along skirting boards, inside cupboard hinges, etc.

Hmm, can the council not help?
I only ask as, if you are a private LL, and letting out your property to people who might otherwise become the councils problem, you are helping ease their burden?
There must be something in place to help Landlords.

I know one of my friends got one of her properties exterminated for free, but she did have ten houses that she had split into bedsits (5 per house) and she accepted loads of housing benefit tenants and she's always said they saw it as she was doing them a favour..

What mummalo said.
Cheap and effective.
I believe it's a harmless powder to us but it lacerates the buggers and they dehydrate. Or summat.

baking:I used to live in the canaries and I used to clean my house with Baygon. (Well it was swooshed and sprayed over everything !) Bloody hell. I'm going to grow another head aren't I?

Dona - possibly, but at least it won't have roaches! We used it all the time in the Caribbean and no-one I know has another head....yet!