Bedbug Inspections Kensington and Chelsea

Why Before the Let, Not After

An empty flat is the easiest to inspect: no luggage, no new boxes, nothing moved since the last clean. If bedbugs are found at that stage, the answer is simple, because they came with the flat and treatment can happen before anyone moves in. If they are found a month into the tenancy, everybody starts asking whether the tenant brought them.

What an inspection involves in general is set out on the London bedbug inspections page, for the full explanation. This page is about timing it around a furnished let.

The Best Moment in the Changeover

There is a short window that works well, and it is worth writing into the plan:

1. The outgoing tenant has left and taken their belongings.
2. The flat has been cleaned, but the beds have not been made up with fresh linen.
3. We inspect the furnished rooms and tell you what we found before we leave, with a written note to follow.
4. If the flat is clear, the inventory and check-in go ahead as planned.
5. If it is not, treatment is booked before the move-in date, and the date is moved if it needs to be.

Leave a few days between the inspection and the move-in if you can. It gives room to treat if something turns up.

What a Furnished Flat Adds to the Check

An unfurnished flat has skirtings, floors and sockets. A furnished one adds every item the landlord has supplied, and each is somewhere bedbugs can sit through a void period. We look at:

• Mattresses, bed bases and headboards, including the underside and the joints.
• Sofas and armchairs, under the cushions and along the frames.
• Bedside tables, chests of drawers and the backs of wardrobes.
• Curtain tops, pelmets and the edges of rugs.
• Picture frames and anything fixed to the wall near a bed.

An inventory clerk records the condition of those items; they are not looking for insects. The two jobs sit side by side rather than replacing each other.

Who Books It

A landlord or letting agent may want it as part of the handover between tenants. A relocation firm may want it for a family arriving from abroad. An incoming tenant may simply want peace of mind before signing. Any of them can book, and we send the findings to whoever arranged it. Who pays for any treatment that follows depends on the tenancy and the cause, and we are pest controllers, not legal advisers.

If the incoming household is shipping its own furniture and boxes, that is a separate question, covered on the South Kensington page. If you have bought a flat rather than rented one and found bedbugs after moving in, see the Earl’s Court page.

If Something Is Found

An empty furnished flat is a good place to treat. Nobody needs to move out, the rooms are clear, and the choice between heat and chemical comes down mostly to the time before move-in. Heat is usually one visit; chemical needs two or three visits about 10-14 days apart. The borough pages for heat and chemical cover each.

If the let is due to start within days and the flat needs treatment, tell the relocation firm or the tenant straight away rather than on the day. A short delay agreed in advance is far easier on a family arriving from abroad than a flat they cannot sleep in. Where a delay is impossible, heat is usually the better fit, because the rooms are ready once they have cooled.

Do not throw out a mattress or sofa just because one is suspected. Carrying it out through a common hallway spreads the problem, and it may not be needed.

Cost

Inspections start from £120, and treatments from £220 if one is needed. Ring 0800 955 1018 with the number of bedrooms and the move-in date, and we give you the price on the phone before anything is booked. The Kensington and Chelsea page has more on protecting furnishings and belongings.

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