Bedbug Inspections Havering

Why the Move Is the Risk

A flat in a large block may have had bedbugs coming and going through the walls for months without anyone being sure. You might have had a few bites and put them down to something else. Once the flat is packed, anything living in the bed frame or the sofa travels with you. A few weeks later the bites start again in a house with more rooms for them to spread into.

The new house is usually empty and clean. That is the point: if bedbugs show up there in the first few weeks, they almost certainly came in the van. What an inspection involves on the day is on the London bedbug inspections page for the full explanation.

Checking the Old Home Before You Pack

The most useful time to look is before anything goes in a box. We cover all 33 boroughs, so we can inspect the flat you are leaving as well as the house you are going to. Book it a week or two before moving day so there is time to act on what we find.

• Nothing found: pack as normal and move.
• Signs found: treat before the move, not after. It is far easier in the rooms where the bedbugs are than in a house full of unpacked boxes.
• Only one piece of furniture affected: we tell you whether to treat it or leave it behind.

If you are renting, tell your landlord in writing what was found. Who arranges treatment depends on the tenancy; we are pest controllers, not legal advisers.

Packing So Nothing Hitches a Ride

1. Wash bedding, curtains and clothes on a hot cycle and pack them into sealed bags straight from the machine or dryer.
2. Take bed frames apart and look along every joint and screw hole before they go in the van.
3. Pack books and small items in new boxes rather than ones stored under a bed or in a cupboard.
4. Keep the bags and boxes from the bedroom together, so if anything is found later you know where to look.

Canvas wardrobes and clothes rails are worth extra care; bedbugs in fabric wardrobes and clothes rails explains why.

The Van and the Removal Firm

Removal vans carry other people’s furniture, and hired blankets and trolleys go from job to job. It is sensible to ask your removal firm how their vans and blankets are cleaned between moves. If you are moving yourself in a hired van, give the floor and any padding a look before loading, and unload the bedroom items straight into the bedrooms rather than the hall.

Checking the New Home After You Arrive

If the old flat was not checked, or you are uneasy, book an inspection in the new house within a few weeks of moving in. It is also worth one if bites start in the first months, before anyone buys new beds or throws the old ones out.

An older house is not more likely to have them because of its age alone; what matters is what was carried in. The guide are bedbugs worse in older houses? goes into that. Furniture bought second-hand for the new place is its own risk, which the Upminster page covers.

When we come to the new house, we start with the beds and sofas that made the journey, then the rooms they went into, then the rest of the house. Unpacked boxes are checked as well, so leave any still sealed where we can reach them. Anything we find is shown to you, and a specimen can go in a pot so you see what it is.

What It Costs and What Follows

Inspections start from £120. You are told on the day what we found and, if treatment is needed, whether heat or chemical suits the property. Treatments start from £220, and the borough pages for heat and chemical treatment explain each. Ring 0800 955 1018 to book, and tell us if it is the old home, the new one, or both.

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