When the Landlord Says You Brought Them In: Lambeth

We are pest controllers, not legal advisers, so this guide does not tell you who is responsible. That depends on your tenancy, the law that applies to it and the facts. What we can explain is why the cause is so hard to pin down, what records are useful, and how to stop the problem growing while it is worked out.

Why Blame Rarely Settles It

Bedbugs can arrive in a suitcase, a second-hand chair, a visitor’s bag or a delivery. They can also walk in from the flat next door through gaps around pipes and skirtings, or be left behind by a previous occupant and go unnoticed for weeks, because they can survive a long time without feeding.

That means the date you first saw them tells you little about when they arrived. An empty flat can seem clear at the check-in and show signs a month later. A tenant who travels a lot may be blamed for bugs that came through the wall. Most of the time, neither side can prove the route, and a pest controller cannot either.

Evidence That Helps

What you can do is keep a clear, dated record from the start. It will not prove the cause, but it shows you reported promptly and acted sensibly, and that tends to count for something whoever ends up paying.

• The date you first noticed bites, spotting or a bug, written down at the time.
• Photos of the bug, the mattress seams and the frame, with dates.
• A copy of every message to the landlord or agent, and their replies.
• Whether anyone else in the building has mentioned bedbugs.
• Your check-in inventory, if it recorded the condition of the bed and furniture.
• A written note from an inspection, if one is done.

A bug caught in a sealed jar or on tape is worth keeping. So is the name and date of anyone who came to look. The Lambeth inspections page explains what an inspection covers for renters in shared houses.

Getting Treatment Started Anyway

Whatever the dispute, the outcome that costs everyone least is a treatment soon. A problem left for two months can spread to more rooms, into your belongings, or into the flat next door, and then the bill grows for whoever pays it.

1. Report it in writing and ask the landlord how and when it will be treated.
2. Suggest that the treatment goes ahead now and the question of cost is dealt with afterwards.
3. If they want their own contractor, ask for the date and which rooms are covered.
4. If you agree to book it yourself, get that agreement in writing first.
5. Prepare the room as you are told, and keep a note of what was done and when.

If you are getting nowhere, an independent housing adviser such as Citizens Advice can explain where you stand. That is their job rather than ours.

What Not to Do While You Wait

Some reactions to a dispute make the bedbugs worse. Do not throw out furniture that belongs to the landlord, and do not drag a mattress down the stairs yourself; carrying it through a shared hallway spreads them. Do not move into the living room or a friend’s spare room, because they follow you. And be wary of shop sprays and foggers, which tend to scatter them into other rooms and make any later treatment harder.

If the Cause Really Does Matter

Sometimes the pattern of the problem gives a clue. Signs concentrated along a shared wall, or bites in more than one flat at once, point towards a source in the building. Signs only in one room, soon after a trip or a purchase, point the other way. We can tell you what we see on the day, but a treatment report is not a verdict on who is to blame.

For how bedbugs move between flats in a converted house, see the Kennington page. For the landlord’s side of the same story, the Vauxhall page looks at what happens when a cleaner finds them at the end of a tenancy.

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