Bedbug Control Richmond Town Centre

Whose Problem Is It?

In a furnished let the mattress, bed frame and upholstered chairs are the landlord's property. If the bedbugs were there before you arrived, that usually points towards the landlord or the letting agent arranging treatment. If they arrived later, in your own luggage, it can point the other way. Most tenancies say something about pests, and a company relocation package may say something too.

We are pest controllers, not legal advisers, so we will not tell you who has to pay. What we can say is that the order of events matters. Report it in writing to the agent or landlord as soon as you are sure, keep a copy, and photograph what you found: the spotting on a seam, a live insect in a clear bag, the date. If your employer arranged the flat, copy in whoever handles the relocation.

Making Sure It Really Is Bedbugs

A landlord is more likely to act quickly on a confirmed finding than on a description of bites. An inspection starts from £120 and gives everyone the same answer: whether bedbugs are present, which rooms are involved and which pieces of furniture are carrying them. If it turns out to be something else, you have spent far less than a treatment.

Please do not drag the mattress out to the bins or ask the agent to swap it before anyone has looked. Carrying an infested mattress down a stairwell sheds insects on the way, and a new one dropped into the same room simply gets moved into.

Treatment in a Flat That Is Not Yours

Either route can work. Heat treatment suits a furnished let where the tenancy is short, because it deals with the eggs too and is usually one visit, so the flat is not tied up for a fortnight while you wait for a follow-up. Chemical treatment costs less and is usually two or three visits about 10 to 14 days apart, which works if you are staying on for a while. Whoever books it, the exact figure is given on the phone once we know how many rooms are involved.

Your part is the same either way: your own clothes and bedding washed hot and bagged, your suitcases open and ready to be looked at, and the floor clear. You do not need to move the landlord's furniture.

Leaving Without Them

The risk for someone relocating is carrying bedbugs from the temporary flat into the place you settle in next. In the weeks before you go, keep packed bags zipped and off the bedroom floor, wash every fabric item on the hottest setting it can take before it goes into a box, and check the seams of your cases on the day you leave. If the flat has not been treated by then, be stricter still: unpack at the new place on a hard floor, one bag at a time, and check each item as it comes out.

If you were bitten on a trip before you moved in, our guide to holiday cottages, campsites and B&Bs covers checking your things after a stay away. The Richmond borough page is about stopping bedbugs coming back once a home has been treated.

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