Rental agency, roaches and the like in Mont'gomery cty MD

Factual Questions
1

Hopefully someone among the teeming millions can advise me on the following…

I moved into a 2br apt last July…immediately I noticed the familiar sight of roaches. Had the place bombed and sprayed twice. Activity died down but never went away completely. Since then I just suffered for the occasional lonesome wandering roach…Until about 2 weeks as I witnessed a resurgence in activity…I had pestcontrol come over again, who told me that my apt is roachfree but that one of the other apts in the building is a breeding place…I brought this up with the rental agency. They claim though that if the people downstairs do not agree on having pestcontrol visit that there is nothing they can do…

Is that true? If so what can I do (besides moving)? Are there any official county depts I can contact? Would this be a valid reason to end my lease? Or am I just plain screwed??

In case it helps I live in Montgomery County Maryland…

Any advise on this will be greatly appreciated…

Thanks

2

You might try checking with the local city health dept or housing inspection dept. Often the city codes have provisions relating to vermin infestation, and they have the authority to order exterminators to treat the entire building.

Normally this would be done a company hired by the landlord, and then the charge split among all the tenants. (Which means you’d get stuck paying twice, since you’ve already paid to have this done in your own unit. But you would be rid of the pests.)