Bedbugs in Rented or Hired Furniture: Redbridge

Bedbugs are carried in things, and furniture is one of the easiest things for them to ride in. A bed frame, headboard or upholstered chair has plenty of joints, staples and fabric folds, and when it goes from one place to the next, whatever was hiding inside goes with it.

Three Kinds of Hired Furniture

• Furniture rental. Beds, sofas and wardrobes rented by the month, often collected from one household and delivered to another.
• Furnished-let packs. The bed, sofa and table a landlord or agent supplies with a furnished tenancy, sometimes moved between properties between lets.
• Hired event items. Upholstered chairs, cushions, linen, marquee furniture and sofas brought in for a party, a celebration or a gathering at home.

Each comes with a different person to tell, but the checks are the same.

What to Check When It Arrives

Do the check in good light before the item goes into a bedroom or living room, ideally in the hall or wherever it is unloaded.

1. Look along every seam, piping edge and button on upholstery and mattresses.
2. Check the joints and screw holes of bed frames and the back of headboards.
3. Tip chairs and look under the seat, where fabric is stapled to the frame.
4. Look for dark spotting like ink marks, pale shed skins, tiny eggs and live bugs.
5. Photograph anything you find, with the delivery paperwork in the picture if you can.

The London guide to where bedbugs hide that get missed is a useful companion for the places people overlook.

If You Find Bedbugs

Resist the urge to drag it straight back out of the door or leave it on the pavement. Moving an infested item through the house or building scatters bugs and eggs along the way, and it may leave you with no evidence.

• If the item has not come in yet, do not bring it in. Ask the driver to take it back.
• If it is already inside, leave it where it is, keep people off it and keep other belongings away from it.
• Tell the rental company, landlord, agent or hire firm in writing straight away, with your photos.
• Ask them what they want to happen next, and keep a copy of what you sent and what they said.

Who to Tell and Who Pays

For rented furniture, the rental company. For a furnished let, the landlord or managing agent, in writing. For event hire, the hire firm. Who arranges and pays for treatment depends on the agreement or tenancy and on how the bedbugs got there. We are pest controllers, not legal advisers, so we cannot settle that for you, but we can confirm whether it is bedbugs and treat the rooms.

If a problem shows up weeks after the delivery, it is harder to say where it came from. That is one reason to check on day one. Landlords with several furnished houses can read the commercial page for the borough, and anyone letting rooms should see the London guide to HMOs and serviced apartments.

Treating the Room, Not Just the Item

If a hired bed or sofa has been in the house for a while, the bugs may have moved into the room around it. An inspection from £120 shows how far they have gone. Treatment covers the room; heat can deal with the furniture in place, and chemical treatment covers frames, seams and skirtings. Treatments start at £220, and the figure depends on the rooms involved.

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