Bedbug Inspections Wandsworth

Two Moments That Matter

People moving into a shared house or a new family home tend to meet the question at one of two points. The first is the viewing, when you are deciding whether to take the room or the house. The second is moving day, when the rooms are empty and your belongings are in boxes. Each calls for a different kind of check.

What happens during an inspection itself, and why it is worth doing before paying for treatment, is set out on the London bedbug inspections page, for the full explanation.

At the Viewing: What You Can Check Yourself

You do not need to book us to look at a room you might rent. A quick, polite check during the viewing tells you a fair amount:

• Lift a corner of the fitted sheet and look along the mattress seam and piping for dark spots.
• Look at the corners and joints of the bed frame, and behind the headboard if it comes away easily.
• Glance at the skirting behind the bed and at the edges of the carpet.
• Ask directly whether the house has had bedbugs, and whether any room has been treated.

A clean look at a viewing is reassuring, but it is not proof: early infestations are small and well hidden. Spots on a seam or a straight answer that there has been a problem recently are good reasons to ask for an inspection before signing.

Before Signing: Booking an Inspection

An inspection before you sign needs the landlord or agent to let us in, since the property is not yours yet. Many will agree, especially if you are paying. If they refuse outright, that tells you something too.

In a shared house, the room you are taking is only part of the picture. Bedbugs move between rooms along walls and through shared furniture, so ask whether we can look at the common sofa and, with the other tenants’ agreement, the bedrooms next to yours. If you are the landlord letting a room to a student nurse or doctor on placement, the Tooting page is written for you.

Moving Day: Before You Unpack

An empty room is the easiest room to inspect. There is no clutter, the bed frame and skirting are in plain view, and anything found belongs to the property rather than to you. If you can, book the inspection for the day you get the keys, before your furniture arrives.

1. Get the keys and hold the removal van, or keep the boxes in the hallway or kitchen for now.
2. Have the bedrooms inspected while they are empty, including any bed or sofa left by the last tenant.
3. If the rooms are clear, move the beds in first and check your own frames as you reassemble them.
4. Unpack clothes from bags and boxes on a hard floor, not on the bed.
5. Wash and dry on a hot setting anything you are unsure about before it goes into a drawer.

Remember that a move carries bedbugs in both directions. If your old home had a problem, or you stayed somewhere during the move, your own belongings are the risk. Our guide to staying with friends and family covers bags and unpacking in more detail. If you bought an ex-display or clearance bed or sofa for the new place, the Putney page deals with that.

Families Moving Into a House

A family house has more beds, more soft furnishings and often furniture left by the previous owners: a bed in the loft room, a sofa in the basement, a cot in the box room. These are the items to check first. If you are not sure whether to keep them, have them inspected before your children sleep in them.

If the inspection finds bedbugs, we tell you where and how far they have spread, and whether heat or chemical treatment suits the rooms. If it finds nothing, you unpack knowing that.

What It Costs

Inspections start from £120. If treatment is needed, it starts from £220, depending on the rooms and whether it is heat or chemical, and the figure is given on the phone before anything is booked. Ring 0800 955 1018. The Wandsworth bedbug control page covers how the borough’s different homes are treated.

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