Why the Second Flat Is Rarely Clear
Bedbugs do not travel by themselves between buildings. They are carried in fabric: a washbag in a canvas holdall, a jumper left on the end of the bed, a coat hung on the bedroom door. Split your nights between two places and you are giving them a shuttle service.
The flat where the bites began is not necessarily the one the bugs came from. People react to bites differently and some do not react at all, so the partner who gets marked may simply be the one who notices. A few quiet weeks in the other home proves nothing.
Check Both Before You Book Anything
Go through both bedrooms the same evening if you can. Mattress seams and piping, the corners of the base, the joints of the frame and the headboard are where to start. Then look at the places the overnight bag usually lands in each flat: a chair, the floor beside the bed, the bottom of the wardrobe.
If one flat shows clear signs and the other shows nothing, an inspection of the clean-looking one, from £120, tells you whether you are paying for one treatment or two. Our guide to the early signs shows what low numbers look like.
Stop the Shuttle for Now
- Pick one flat and stay there until you know what you are dealing with. Keep sleeping in your own bed rather than on a sofa.
- Swap the fabric bag for a hard case or a sealed plastic box if you must carry things between the two.
- Wash and dry what travels. Clothes, pyjamas and washbags go through a hot wash and a hot dryer before they go into the other home.
- Keep the bag off the bed and out of the bedroom in both places. A hallway or kitchen floor is better.
Treating Two Homes at Once
If both flats have them, treat both in the same window. Doing one and leaving the other simply sends the bugs back the next time someone stays over. We can line the visits up so neither home is waiting on the other.
Heat treatment is usually a single visit to each flat, which keeps the timing simple. Chemical treatment means follow-up visits to each about two weeks apart, so it helps to agree now who will be in which flat on those days. Treatments start from £220 per home and the figure depends on the rooms and the method; we give it on the phone. If one flat is rented, report it to that landlord in writing; who pays depends on the tenancy.
If guests are due at either flat while this is going on, see having visitors while you have bedbugs.
Bedbug Control Highbury — Questions
Only my partner gets bites. Could the bugs still be in my flat?
Yes. Some people do not react to bites at all. Check both flats rather than going by who has marks.
Can we just treat the flat where we found them?
Only if the other one is genuinely clear. An inspection of the second flat settles that before you pay for a treatment there.
Should we sleep apart for a while?
Staying put in one flat, in your usual bed, is better than moving around. Each move is another chance to carry them.
Does the Highbury flat need treating first?
Neither needs to go first. What matters is that both are treated in the same period so the bugs have nowhere to retreat to.
Do you treat the second flat if it is outside Highbury?
Tell us where it is when you ring. We cover all of Islington and will say how we can handle both homes.
Elsewhere in Islington
The other areas in the borough, each written around a different situation.
Bedbug Advice for Highbury
Picked for this page: the guides that go further on what matters for Highbury.
Having Visitors While You Have Bedbugs
Whether to put guests off, what to say, where their coats go, and when to invite them back.
Read more →
The Early Signs, and the Timeline
Week one to month six. What is detectable when, and why 'early' is mostly invisible.
Read more →
Inspection First, or Straight to Treatment?
When the £120 saves you money, and when it is £120 you did not need to spend.
Read more →
How Long Does a Heat Treatment Take?
Why one London flat takes four hours and another takes ten, and what decides it.
Read more →Bedbug Treatments in Islington
Every service has its own page for Islington: heat, chemical, hotels, commercial premises and inspections.
Covering Highbury
Tell Us About the Property
Tell us about both flats, which one the bites started in and what you have found in each, and we will plan the visits together.