Selling or Letting a House After Bedbugs: Bromley

The worst time to discover the job was not finished is after the buyer or tenant has moved in. It is also the most likely time, because a house emptied for a move can hide a low-level problem that comes back once people are sleeping there again.

Finish It Before Anyone Moves

Allow time. Chemical treatment is usually two visits, sometimes three, about 10–14 days apart, because it does not reliably kill eggs. That makes it several weeks from first visit to finished, and the course has to be completed. Stopping after the first visit because the house is going on the market is the most common way a problem is handed on.

Heat treatment is usually one visit, taking most of a day, and it kills the eggs too, so it fits a tight timetable better. It costs more. Both start from £220, and the final figure depends on the number of rooms. See how many treatments it usually takes for more on the numbers of visits.

Moving Out Without Taking Them With You

If you are selling your own home and moving, the risk is carrying bedbugs into the next one. Get treatment done while the furniture is still in place, not after it has been packed. Boxes, bags and a removal van are where they travel. Wash and dry bedding and clothes from the affected rooms before packing, and keep those items separate.

What Paperwork Helps

A clear record shows what was found, what was done and that the course was completed. Keep:

• the inspection findings: which rooms, and what was found in each;
• the treatment type and the date of each visit;
• for chemical, confirmation that the follow-up visits happened;
• the preparation you were asked to do and confirmation that it was done;
• a check after treatment, if you book one, and what it found.

Ask for this when you book, so it is written up as the job goes along. A finished course with dates is worth far more than a single invoice.

A Check Before Handover

A follow-up inspection after treatment, from £120, gives you a dated look at the rooms before handover. If there has been a gap between treatment and the move, it is especially worth doing. Why bedbugs reappear after treatment explains what that check is looking for.

Letting a House or Flat

If you are a landlord re-letting after bedbugs, the same applies: finish the course, keep the record, and check before the new tenant moves in. If the property is a house converted into flats, think about the flats next door as well, because heat leaves nothing behind once the room cools, and a light residual may be put at the edges afterwards. Houses in multiple occupation are covered on the HMO guide.

The Legal Side

Questions about what to disclose to a buyer, what goes on the property forms, or who pays between landlord and tenant are for your solicitor or letting agent. Who arranges and pays for treatment in a rental depends on the tenancy and the cause. Report problems in writing. We can provide the record of what we found and did; we cannot tell you what the law requires.

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