For pest control, who you gonna call? (Service Spotlight).

When it comes to bugs, the answers aren't always black and white.

Any time people are living in high-density housing such as an apartment building, it's going to happen. Sooner or later, an ant, roach or termite is seen lurking in a rental home, and the property will then require the help of pest control professionals.

So now what?

The good news is that new technology has made pest control less invasive and less dangerous to residents and their pets. Even the effectiveness of off-the-shelf products has improved. Often, they can be used safely by a layperson. Most states assign the chore of regulating pest control in multifamily rental properties to professionals or certified maintenance technicians, however, property managers must check local laws before they choose to deal with pest control.

Not As Many Bugs

Gordon Morrison of Aventis Environmental Science, Montvale, N.J., said there has been a big turnaround in pest control during the past few years. Off-the-shelf bait traps have become so effective that cockroaches no longer are a big problem in apartments.

"In professional pest control markets, ants have become a bigger problem than roaches," he said.

Because of advancements in technology, fleas and ticks, Morrison said, no longer are much of a problem. He said the popularity of on-animal flea and tick applications such as Frontline have just about eradicated fleas and ticks from housing.

"The veterinarians created on-animal products for fleas and ticks, and as a result, the pest control market has since tanked," he said.

The apartment industry has the advent of highly effective baits to thank for the decline of the roach population. These baits can be set throughout apartments and don't involve spraying or chemical spread. Roaches take the bait for food and then return to their colonies, where they spread the poison quickly and efficiently.

In multifamily applications, he said, certified property managers often follow-up professional sprayings with bait traps, quickly leading to the demise of their pest population. Morrison said that many consumers do not know about this advanced technology.

"In the professional market," he said, "baits are the formulation of choice. In the consumer market, the uneducated consumer still tends to buy aerosols because they are looking for the immediate kill. What they get is short-term results, but not much in the way of long-term [eradication]."

Self-Use

Morrison's advice is for most multifamily housing providers to call pest control professionals for existing problems and for proactive treatments. This, he said, is because many states require certified professionals to make the applications in apartment buildings. He said there is a big liability risk involved when applying poisons and chemicals in rental homes.

"If a property manager, especially one who is not certified, treats somebody's property and something goes wrong, they can get hung out to dry [financially and legally]," he said.

He advises that certified professionals, too, carefully read and follow product labeling when using pest control products.

"The label is the law," he said. "You're allowed to do what the label says. If you go against that label, you open yourself to liability."

The requirement to notify residents before pest control is applied varies, depending on the state.

Morrison advises all property managers to tell their residents when they plan to apply chemicals.

He also said that property managers should check to see if any of their residents are sensitive to any particular chemicals or if they have asthma before ordering an application to be performed.

He also recommends that the pest control professional speak to residents about what to do after an application.

He said one of the biggest problems is that residents leave pet food out for their animals all day.

Dog food and cat food are very attractive to bugs and mice, he said, and shouldn't be left out in an apartment setting.

The same goes for crumbs and spills that are not cleaned up, he said.

Once a problem hits one apartment, he said, it doesn't take long for it to spread to the rest of a building.

Termites

Morrison said one of the biggest advances in the last few years has been in termite control.

Termite control used to be quite invasive, requiring dozens of holes be drilled in a property so that baits could be inserted into soil. And the process had to be repeated fairly frequently to ensure results.

A product called Termidor recently was introduced and it has revolutionized the industry

Termidor is drilled into the ground, but does not require nearly the number of holes required by other products. And, he said, it is effective for at least seven years.

Kim Fernandez is a freelance writer for trade and consumer publications who lives in Bethesda, Md. A former Managing Editor of Units, she has written about the multifamily housing industry since 1994.