Commercial Pest Control
Student Housing Pest Control
Off-campus student housing around Cornell and Ithaca College faces heavy bed bug, cockroach, and rodent pressure driven by dense occupancy, secondhand furniture, and the August and May move cycles. Nolan Pest Control provides coordinated, documented, discreet treatment timed to the academic calendar — and helps landlords meet their New York habitability obligations.
Ithaca's off-campus rental market is one of the most pest-active environments in upstate New York, and student housing is its epicenter. Collegetown, Cornell Heights, South Hill, and the Coddington and Danby corridors pack aging housing, shared-wall apartments, Greek houses, and constant tenant turnover into a few square miles. The result is a self-renewing demand for exactly the pests that spread fastest — bed bugs, German cockroaches, and mice.
We serve landlords, property managers, and Greek organizations across Ithaca's student neighborhoods with treatment built around how student housing actually works: whole-building coordination, discreet visits, and scheduling that anticipates the move cycles when infestations spread.
Why the move cycle drives everything
Student housing turns over almost entirely twice a year — a wave of move-outs and move-ins in August, and again around May. During those windows, mattresses, couches, and boxes change hands and travel between buildings, which is precisely how bed bugs and roaches spread across a neighborhood. A unit that was clean in July can be infested by September without anyone doing anything 'wrong.'
That predictability is an advantage if you use it. Pre-move-in inspections and treatments, turnover protocols, and building-level coordination during the move windows prevent the neighborhood-wide spread that reactive, one-unit-at-a-time treatment can't keep up with. Getting ahead of the calendar is the whole game in student housing.
Habitability in student rentals
Student tenants have the same protections as any residential tenant in New York. Under the Warranty of Habitability (RPL §235-b), landlords are generally responsible for addressing infestations, and bed bugs in particular are a frequent source of tenant complaints and disputes in college housing. Prompt, documented treatment protects both the students and the owner.
We provide the dated documentation landlords and management companies need, and we coordinate across the connected units and buildings that student portfolios often involve. (General information, not legal advice.)
How we handle it
- Move-cycle scheduling: turnover inspections and treatments timed to August and May, when spread is highest.
- Whole-building and multi-property coordination for landlords and Greek houses with many connected units.
- Discreet service that respects student tenants and keeps units rentable.
- Documented treatment for owners, managers, and habitability purposes.
- Clear, simple prep instructions students will actually follow.
What's covered
- Bed bug inspection, treatment, and follow-up across units and buildings
- German cockroach elimination in kitchens and shared spaces
- Rodent control and exclusion in older student housing
- Pre-move-in turnover inspections and treatment
- Greek house and multi-tenant coordination
Pests we target here
Pricing
Student-housing work is priced by unit and building count and the pest involved, and is best arranged on a per-building or portfolio basis with turnover treatments built in.
Bed bug and roach jobs are quoted as programs including the required follow-up, since a single visit doesn't end them.