The Order to Tell People
- Tell the operator first, in writing. The apartment is theirs, and in most cases they arrange and pay for treatment. An email with photographs and the date is better than a word at reception.
- Copy your employer's travel or accommodation team. They booked the stay and they may need to move you, extend a booking or deal with the operator.
- Keep a record of bites and anything you find. A clear photograph of a bug, or one kept in a sealed bag, is more use than a description.
- Do not leave to stay with colleagues or friends. Your luggage goes with you, and so do the bedbugs. Wait until you know the plan.
Who ends up paying depends on the agreement between your employer and the operator, and sometimes on where the bedbugs came from. We are pest controllers, not legal advisers, so we will not settle that for you, but a written report of what we found helps whoever does.
If the Operator Arranges Treatment
Most serviced apartment operators have someone they call. If that is us, the apartment is usually treated between occupants or while you are moved to another unit. For a unit that needs to be back in use quickly, heat is often chosen because it usually needs one visit. The hotel and serviced apartment page for the City of London is written for operators.
If you are asked to move to another unit in the same Aldgate building, the risk is that your things carry the problem with you. That is the part you control.
Your Luggage and Clothes
On a long stay your life is in that apartment: work clothes, a laptop bag, a suitcase in the wardrobe. Before moving anything:
- Wash everything that can go in a hot wash and tumble dry it, then keep it in sealed bags
- Bag anything that cannot be washed and keep it apart until you have advice
- Check the laptop bag and the suitcase lining, seams and wheel housing
- Do not store the empty case under the new bed
Our guide on treating a suitcase after bedbugs goes through hard and soft cases properly.
When Nobody Seems to Own It
Sometimes an Aldgate operator is slow and the employer says it is the operator's problem. If you are still sleeping in an affected apartment in Aldgate a week later, keep putting it in writing to both. You can also book an inspection yourself, from £120, so there is independent confirmation on the table.
Treatment itself starts from £220, and whoever books it gets the figure on the phone first. If you are going home at weekends, read the Moorgate page on weekday flats before you travel.
Bedbug Control Aldgate — Questions
Can I book treatment myself and claim it back?
You can, but check with your employer and the operator first. The operator may have its own arrangements, and treatment in an apartment you do not control needs their permission and access.
Should I go home to my own house while it is sorted?
Not without dealing with your luggage first. Washing, drying and bagging what you take stops you carrying them into your own home.
The operator says one bite is not proof. What now?
Bites alone are not proof, because people react differently. A bug, spotting on the mattress or an inspection report is what settles it.
Will I have to move out of the apartment?
Usually, at least for the treatment itself. With heat the unit is normally back in use once it has cooled; with chemical you can return once surfaces are dry.
Elsewhere in City of London
The other areas in the borough, each written around a different situation.
Bedbug Advice for Aldgate
Picked for this page: the guides that go further on what matters for Aldgate.
Treating a Suitcase
Hard shells, soft cases, wheels and handle tracks: what to do with luggage that may have bedbugs.
Read more →
HMOs and Serviced Apartments
Getting into every unit at once is the hard half of block work. How it is actually scheduled.
Read more →
When a Guest Reports Bedbugs
Handling the person, not the room. The conversation, the offer, and the review that follows.
Read more →
Coats and Cloakrooms
Why a coat can carry a bedbug, why a cloakroom rarely holds many, and what to do after a scare.
Read more →Bedbug Treatments in City of London
Every service has its own page for City of London: heat, chemical, hotels, commercial premises and inspections.
Covering Aldgate
Tell Us About the Property
Tell us whether you are the guest, the employer or the operator, and we will explain what happens next.