Bedbug Inspections Camden

Why the Start and End of a Tenancy

Moving is when bedbugs change hands most easily in rented housing. A furnished flat comes with a bed and a sofa someone else slept on, and your own belongings go in boxes and bags that sat in your old place. At the other end, if bedbugs turn up after you move out, the question of whether they were there during your tenancy can be hard to answer.

A dated inspection at either point does not settle every argument, but it gives you something better than memory. What an inspection covers in general, and how it is carried out, is on our London bedbug inspections page for the full explanation.

Before You Sign for a Flat

If you are about to take a furnished flat, an inspection before you sign or before you move your things in tells you what you are taking on. Ask the agent or landlord for access; most will agree to a visit if it is booked around a viewing or the check-in. We look at:

• the mattress, its seams and the bed frame joints;
• the sofa and any other upholstered seating;
• skirtings and edges near the bed, and behind the headboard;
• furniture that came with the flat, such as bedside tables and wardrobes;
• any sign of past treatment, such as residue along the skirtings.

If something is found, you know before you are committed, and the landlord can arrange treatment before you move in. Report anything in writing to the landlord or agent. Who arranges and pays is a matter for your tenancy agreement, and we are pest controllers, not legal advisers.

At the End of a Tenancy

An inspection before you hand back the keys records the state of the flat as you leave it. It is most useful if you have had bedbugs and had them treated during the tenancy, or if you are worried about being blamed for something that was there before you. Landlords use the same check between tenants, before the next person moves in.

One honest limit: an empty flat can hide a light problem, because there is nobody being bitten to draw the bugs out. If you can, book the check while the flat is still lived in, or soon after it is emptied. We look at the places they shelter regardless, and old evidence such as cast skins and spotting often remains. What bedbug shed skins tell you explains how that evidence is read.

What the Written Note Says

After the inspection you get a short written note. It records:

• the address and the date of the visit;
• which rooms and which items were looked at;
• what was found, including nothing, and where;
• whether any evidence looked recent or old;
• whether we would recommend treatment, and which route.

The note says what we saw on the day. It is not a promise that there will never be bedbugs in the flat, and nobody can honestly give you one. If you have a specific worry, such as a sofa or a friend’s bed you slept in before moving, tell us so we can look at that too; the Belsize Park page covers bringing two households’ furniture together.

If the Inspection Finds Bedbugs

Then the next step is treatment, and the choice is usually between heat and chemical. For a flat in a converted house, see heat treatment in Camden; for a course of visits in a shared flat, see chemical treatment in Camden. Treatments start from £220.

If nothing is found but you are still being bitten after you move in, ring us again rather than reaching for a shop spray. A second look once you are sleeping there is often more telling than the first.

Inspections start from £120. Ring 0800 955 1018 with the address, the number of rooms and your move-in or move-out date, and we give you the price on the phone. The Camden bedbug control page has more on living in a divided house.

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