Bedbug Control Earl's Court

Did They Come With the Flat or With You?

Either is possible. They may have been in the flat before you arrived, sitting in cracks in an empty bedroom. They may equally have come in with your own furniture, the removal van or a sofa bought for the new place. Sometimes they came from a neighbouring flat through a shared wall.

You will not always get a clear answer, and treatment does not wait for one. What helps is noting where the signs are heaviest: in a room full of your own furniture, or along a skirting or fitted cupboard that was there before you.

Write It Down Now

Whatever you decide later, a record made early is worth having. Memories of the first week fade quickly, and a dated photograph on your phone is harder to argue with than a recollection.

• Photographs of spotting, shed skins or live bedbugs, with the date.
• Which rooms, and which pieces of furniture, show signs.
• When the bites started, and when you moved in.
• Anything you brought from your old home and anything bought new.
• Our written findings, if we inspect.

If you think the flat was affected before completion, speak to your conveyancer about it. We are pest controllers, not legal advisers, so we can say what we found and where, but not what it means for the purchase.

The Building Around You

Many flats in Earl's Court sit in converted terraces or mansion blocks where walls, floors and service runs are shared. If signs are strongest along a party wall, tell the managing agent in writing. Our guide to telling neighbours in your building covers who to tell first and what to say.

In a shared building, heat treatment of your flat can be paired with a light residual at the edges, because heat itself leaves nothing behind to catch bedbugs arriving later from next door. Whether that is needed depends on what we find along the walls you share with other flats.

Getting It Treated

A newly moved-in flat is often lightly furnished, with boxes still stacked in the spare room. That helps heat treatment, which works best when air can move around the room, and it usually needs one visit. Chemical treatment needs the floors clear and the boxes out of the way, then two or three visits. Heat costs more than chemical.

Unopened boxes from the move are worth leaving sealed until we have been. If you are not sure the marks you found are bedbugs, a borough inspection starts from £120. The Kensington and Chelsea page covers deciding what can stay in a room.

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