Cockroaches

get diatemaceous earth. even if you have to order it online. It is a very fine powder made of ground up fossilized shells. it ill kill anything with an exo skeleton. It's not expensive or poison to cats and humans. Look it up. In 48 hours you'll be rid of them.

Pif Paf  and Baygon are excellent

Mine... Oh mine
I visited Malta a couple of weeks ago and to my utter shock _ a giant cockroach landed of my partner's back neck ... I did not dare to look at it  after he killed it...
We where staying in an Airbnb in the heart of St Julian's which was a very  clean apartment with minimal furnishings and no living plants. The cupboards were also emptied.
I will be relocating to Malta in just 6 weeks time and I already have nightmares about the fact that the problem seems to be widespread....
So to minimize the chances to encounter those 'unwelcoming' creatures I would like to ask which areas/ type of house should I avoid to minimize my chances.

I would not worry that much, I have lived in Gozo for six years and have only seen a few.

The big brown cockroaches is nothing to worry about. They do not multiply as much as the small black ones. These big cockroaches can fly and now and again one can locate them in a dark corner. I have one or two in my garage. They help me to keep the garage dustclean. Actually I warned them to multiply because in that cases I will spray the garage with kerosine. However, I have no reason to complain. If a house or flat has the little black cockroaces you need a pest company to get rid of them. They exist over here as well. When I stayed in the Phonicia Hotel in 1976 I met some of these creatures in the drawer of my room.