It latterly appears that the supposed cockroach "infestation" might now be proving to be something of a misnomer, for the latest news received is that the problem has likely been limited to one flat only...

As you will doubtless already know, the Mainstay appointed agent - Rentokil - recently requested access to no less than 140 apartments to assess the extent of the problem; such assessment to be achieved via the laying and monitoring of sticky paper traps.

(This site has since been very reliably informed that approximately seventy percent of resident leaseholders / tenants duly co-operated with that request.)

It is now known that - having completed said assessment - the Rentokil people then advised Mainstay that in their opinion the problem was limited to the Core 3 & 4 eighth floor only, so only those flats and associated communal areas would require any treatment.

(That treatment would involve chemical spraying throughout, with the consequential need for all eighth floor residents to vacate their flats for a minimum of at least two hours.)

And the cost of the above work.? According to Mainstay it would be for the sum of £2,400 or thereabouts...

It was at this point that our management company directors started raising serious questions with Mainstay as to general liability, the supposed cause of the initial problem and whether alternative quotes or opinions had been sought. Needless to say, the response was inevitably inadequate.

Given that Mainstay are currently under notice, it was decided by our directors that they would themselves obtain a second opinion / quote for the work involved, to which end Cardiff County Council's own Pest Control service was approached.

Following a thorough site inspection that took place only yesterday morning (comprising a senior Council Pest Control Officer, our Head Concierge and our very own Site Editor / Management Company Chair) it was unanimously agreed that there was manifestly insufficient evidence of infestation to justify either the £2,400 cost or the fumigation treatment as proposed by Rentokil.

N.B: The site visit included a full inspection of the (now vacant) eighth floor flat where cockroaches were originally spotted and subsequently reported. It is now known that the leaseholder of that flat very responsibly arranged immediate treatment of that flat and at his own expense.

Having thoroughly inspected the flat, the council officer was of the opinion that although there were clearly some dead (very small) cockroaches to be seen, in his opinion the initial treatment had been successful and that the problem had been contained.

Nevertheless, it was agreed by those attending that - and purely as a precautionarty measure - additional monitoring would be carried out for a further seven days, this time using traps supplied free of charge by the council.

It was further agreed that the four flats directly above, below and adjacent to the original flat should also be included in the monitoring exercise, with our Head Concierge liasing with the leaseholders / tenants of those flats accordingly.

It is only fair to point out that the Council do not charge for such work, unless they actually "treat" any property, As such, it is likely that there will be zero cost to leaseholders if, as believed, there is no longer a problem.

An update will be added to this site once the Council's Officer has carried out his follow-up visit in a weeks time.

As per the previous entry, the following additional information has just been received by the directors via Lisa Everall in Mainstay central:

..I would like to advise that the request was passed to me by Alex Elsy on the 28th January to request Rentokil to treat all the risers following the message below from the concierge;

"Apt xxx has a cockroach infestation which has been dealt with. The operator recommended putting treatment in the riser rooms as a precaution."

The Rentokil operator when treating the risers contacted me to advise that he would require access to all apartments so to check and treat where necessary any further infestations, he advised me that he would inform me of additional costs before proceeding with additional treatments required.

I will advise you after today's visit if further expenditure is required following the recent infestation..

N.B: The apartment number has been omitted so as not to cause any undue embarrassment to the tenant/s of that property. It can be revealed, though, that it is a Core 4 flat, located on the eighth floor...

Any further updates will be added here as and when they are received.

Today is the "official" opening day of the new 200 bedroom Premier Inn hotel in the adjacent Helmont House building.

For those of you non-resident leaseholders wondering what the hotel looks like, a couple of simple photographs of the exterior have today been added to the Info/Photos page for your information.!

It would appear that all residents and leaseholders of Core 3 & 4 flats have today received notification from Mainstay of an apparent cockroach infestation and a request for access to their properties to enable Rentokil to address the problem.

(Our very annoyed Site Editor / Chair tells us that the first that the directors of our Residents Management Company knew of this issue was when one Core 3 resident director herself received a copy in the post.!)

Needless to say, an urgent explanation has since been demanded from Mainstay by the board members, plus full details of the issue; to include how and when the infestation came to light and the likely cost to resolve it.

Our Site Editor will be updating this site with Mainstay's response just as soon as he receives it. In the meantime, a copy of the Core 3 & 4 notification letter has been appended to the Letters page for the benefit of our Core 1 & 2 readers, who would presumably otherwise be unaware of any of this problem...

All residents of Landmark Place have today received an advisory warning letter from Cardiff County Council's Cleansing Enforcement Unit, that being in response to a recent incident whereby one inconsiderate Landmark Place resident "dumped" several black bags full of their domestic rubbish in the adjacent Limerick House car park.

It is understood that the individual involved was successfully identified via a search through the dumped bags, so quite why the Council felt it necessary to post letters to 279 other flats is open to debate...

(It is believed that this is the first such incident to have occurred, and more by confusion than design: the "offender" proving to be a new Core 1 tenant, who had not been informed about the correct car park bin area.!)

A copy of the letter has been appended to the Letters page for the benefit of non-resident leaseholders who will not have received one themselves.