Bedbug Control Merton Park

Talk About It Before the Moving Date

If you know there are bedbugs in the house, tell the person leaving, even if their room seems clear. It is fairer to them and to whoever they live with next, and it gives you both time to plan. If you suspect it but are not sure, an inspection starts at £120 and gives you both a straight answer.

Where the house can be treated before they pack, that is the cleanest route. Heat treatment is usually one visit, which fits a close moving date; chemical treatment runs over several weeks.

Helping Their Belongings Leave Clean

1. Clothes and bedding: hot-wash and hot tumble-dry everything that can take it, then straight into new bags that stay sealed until they arrive.
2. Things that cannot be washed: shoes, bags and soft toys can go through a hot dryer where the label allows; otherwise bag them and check them at the other end.
3. Suitcases and holdalls: vacuum the seams and inside pockets, and check the zips and wheel housings with a torch.
4. Boxes: new ones, not boxes that have been stored under a bed or in the loft.
5. Furniture they own: check the joints and undersides; anything from an affected room is safer treated before it goes.

Stored bags and cases in the loft are worth a look too; our guide on bedbugs in the loft covers what to check.

The Room They Leave Behind

An empty room is not a clean one. Bedbugs can go a long time without feeding, and a room with nobody sleeping in it gives no warning bites. Before a new lodger moves in, have the room checked, and treated if needed. Letting someone move into a room that still has bedbugs starts the whole thing again.

Once the room has been treated and has come up clear, it is worth checking the mattress seams and the skirting behind the bed again after a few weeks, before the next person has settled in and filled the floor with their own things. Ask whoever moves in next to tell you straight away if they wake up with bites, rather than waiting to be sure.

Do not strip the room by carrying the mattress and bed through the house to get rid of them. Most can be treated, and moving them spreads bedbugs on the way out.

If They Have Already Gone

If a housemate left before anyone knew, let them know as soon as you find out, so they can check their new place early. Then deal with the house as it is now. The Merton page covers the first week and how not to panic, and the Colliers Wood page has help on getting proof when people in a shared home are not convinced.

When you ring about a house in Merton Park, tell us the moving date, which rooms have shown signs and whether a new lodger is due. We will tell you what can be done in the time.

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