Pest Control in Westland, Michigan

From Bucklin to Nankin to Westland

A local history of the city published through Michigan State University traces Westland back to Bucklin Township, organized in 1827 and covering land that is now Westland, Livonia, Garden City, Inkster, Wayne, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Redford Township. On October 20, 1829, the territorial legislature split Bucklin into Lima and Richland townships. Because of a postal naming conflict, Lima was renamed Nankin Township, and in 1835 Livonia Township was carved out of it.

The same account explains the modern name. Residents of Nankin Township fought to keep a new regional shopping mall from being taken into the City of Livonia, the proposed city took its name from that mall, and after Nankin voters approved the Westland City Charter the City of Westland became official on May 16, 1966. The township name still turns up all over town: the Nankin Transit Commission runs curb-to-curb rides for seniors and residents with disabilities, and the Westland Historic Village Park on Wayne Road exists, in its own words, to preserve the history of Nankin Township and the City of Westland. The 2020 Census counted 85,420 people in Westland.

A city built across three decades, with a large rental share

American Community Survey estimates for 2020–2024 put Westland at about 38,300 housing units. Construction was spread fairly evenly over the postwar years rather than packed into one decade: 22.3 percent of units date to the 1950s, 20.4 percent to the 1960s and 18.8 percent to the 1970s, which is about 61 percent of the housing stock across those three decades. Roughly 10 percent predates 1950, and only around 7 percent was built in 2000 or later.

The more distinctive number is tenure. About 38.7 percent of occupied homes in Westland are renter-occupied. Detached single-family houses make up only about 58 percent of units, and buildings with five or more apartments account for more than a quarter of the city’s housing, with about 10 percent in complexes of 20 units or more. That mix shapes the pest calls. Shared walls, shared laundry rooms and shared trash enclosures let German cockroaches and bed bugs move between units, and in multi-unit buildings a single-apartment treatment often fails unless neighboring units are inspected too. In the older single-family streets, the concerns are the familiar ones for houses that are fifty to seventy years old: mice through gaps at sills and utility lines, rats burrowing beside garages and sheds, and carpenter ants in wood that has stayed damp.

Westland’s rental certificate and what inspectors look for

The city’s Residential Rental Program states that a rental dwelling may not be occupied without a Certificate of Compliance. Owners register every three years, a Building Inspector performs an initial and a final inspection, the heating system must pass a furnace safety and carbon monoxide test, and the resulting certificate is good for three years. Prospective renters can look up a property in the city’s online records search to see whether it holds a current rental certificate. Rental inspections are scheduled through the Building Division at (734) 467-3216.

The Planning & Building Department’s resale and rental inspection checklist spells out the pest-related items plainly. All structures and exterior property must be kept free from rodent harborage and infestation. Foundation walls must be kept free from open cracks and breaks so as to prevent the entry of rodents and other pests. Every door, window and other outside opening must have approved, tightly fitting insect screens, and screen doors need a working self-closing device. Exterior property must be clean, sanitary and free of weeds. Inside, occupants must keep the part of the building they control clean and sanitary, and the owner of a building with two or more dwelling units must keep shared areas and the exterior clean.

For a Westland landlord, that means an active mouse problem, torn screens or an open foundation crack are not only a tenant complaint; they are items an inspector can write up before a certificate is issued. The same checklist is used when a house is sold. The city requires a Certificate of Approval on every house sold or transferred before the residential closing, following a code inspection by a housing inspector. A licensed pest control company handles the trapping, baiting or insect treatment; sealing a foundation or rebuilding screens may call for a contractor, and any work that needs a permit has to be permitted.

Hines Park, the Middle Rouge and the northern edge of town

Wayne County’s Hines Park runs along the north side of Westland; the county lists its address as 33275 Edward Hines Drive, Westland, with walking and bike paths, fishing and river frontage among its features. Inside the park, the Nankin Mills Interpretive Center at 33175 Ann Arbor Trail occupies a historic grist mill that Henry Ford once used as one of his Village Industry plants. The county describes live animal exhibits there and uses the building as the administrative offices for Wayne County Parks.

The river through Hines Park is the Middle Rouge. Alliance of Rouge Communities materials list Westland among the Middle 3 subwatershed communities, along with Dearborn Heights, Garden City, Livonia and Redford Township, and describe a Wayne County “Grow Zone” strategy in Hines Park along the Middle Rouge to increase infiltration and restore habitat. The same subwatershed report credits Westland with an Elm Grove sedimentation basin project completed in 2003 and a rear-yard catch basin disconnect program.

For houses that back onto the parkway, a creek or a detention pond, that green edge brings more mosquitoes after wet stretches in summer, more ground cover for rodents and more wildlife traffic along fences and under decks. Standing water in clogged gutters, tarps, planters and low spots of the yard adds breeding sites closer to the house. A licensed company certified for outdoor mosquito management can set up a seasonal yard program, and it is worth mentioning to the dispatcher if the property touches the park or a pond.

Norwayne, the Lower Rouge Parkway and the south side

Southern Westland has its own water and park edge. The National Park Service listed the Norwayne Historic District in Westland on the National Register of Historic Places on July 9, 2013, describing it as generally bounded by Palmer, Wildwood, Glenwood and Merriman roads and the Wayne County Lower Rouge Parkway. The Westland Historic Village Park names Norwayne, the Annapolis Park Historic District and the former Wayne County General Hospital, known as Eloise, among the parts of local history it collects. Rows of closely spaced, similar-age duplexes and small houses tend to share the same weak points, so when mice or carpenter ants turn up in one unit on a court, the next few buildings are worth checking as well.

A city ordinance against feeding birds

Westland has a rule that bears directly on pest pressure. According to the Middle 3 subwatershed report, the City of Westland passed an ordinance in 2000 prohibiting the feeding of pigeons, doves, gulls and waterfowl on private or public property. Spilled seed and bread draw rats and mice as reliably as they draw birds, so the ordinance also helps with rodent control. Residents who see feeding that is attracting birds or rats to a neighboring lot can raise it with the Ordinance Department through the city’s Report a Concern form or, for urgent matters and follow-ups, at (734) 713-3733. The department works from 7300 N. Merriman Road.

What Westland Animal Care & Control handles

In Westland, animal control sits within the Police Department. The city’s Animal Care & Control request form lists sick or injured wildlife, stray or loose animals, neglected animals, vicious animals and license matters as report types, and it directs urgent matters to the Police Department at (734) 722-9600. A healthy raccoon in an attic, a skunk under a porch or squirrels in a soffit are a different kind of job: they call for a private nuisance wildlife business rather than a pesticide applicator, so callers should describe the animal so the request is routed correctly.

Termites in postwar Westland houses

Michigan State University Extension calls subterranean termites the most serious wood-destroying pest in Michigan and notes that they are more common than most people realize. They can reach wood that is not touching soil by building shelter tubes over or through concrete foundations, they favor wood with high moisture content, and slab-on-grade construction is especially susceptible because they can pass through very fine cracks. For a Westland house with a slab garage, a porch addition or a damp basement corner, mud tubes on concrete or soft, hollow-sounding wood deserve a Category 7B inspection.

ZIP codes served

Verifying that a Westland exterminator is actually licensed

Michigan puts two credentials on pest control for hire. The business must hold an MDARD Pesticide Application Business License, and the person applying pesticides must be a certified commercial applicator, or a registered technician working under one. MDARD states that certification and registration credentials expire every third year on December 31, and they are renewed either by earning recertification seminar credits over the three-year cycle or by retesting.

The certification category should match the job. Category 7A covers general pest management, such as cockroaches, ants and other insects in and around buildings. Category 7B covers wood-destroying pests, including termites and carpenter ants. Category 7D covers vertebrate pests such as rats, mice and birds, which is the one to ask about for rodent baiting around a Westland rental. Category 7F covers mosquito management in the outdoor environment. Any legitimate company will give its MDARD license number on request, and MDARD maintains a public lookup of licensed businesses.