Bed bugs
Bed Bugs in Burnt Oak's Private Lets
Bed bugs are carried in on people and their belongings; they do not come from the garden or the drains, and a clean home is no protection. What makes a let different is how often things change hands. A furnished flat may have a bed that several tenants have slept in, a house let by the room may have one person moving out as another moves in, and a mattress may be replaced with a second-hand one between lets. How bed bugs get into a home traces the usual routes.
A house let room by room
Where an estate house is let to several people with a room each, bed bugs usually start in one bedroom and spread along the landing, or through belongings left in the shared rooms. Tenants who keep their doors locked may not know until bites spread. It matters who is told: every tenant, and the landlord, so all the rooms can be looked at together.
Flats over the Broadway
Flats above the shops share stairs and walls with other flats, and furniture goes up and down those stairs every time a tenant changes. Bugs in one flat can be linked to the next, which is the subject of whether bed bugs spread between flats.
Checking the Room
In daylight, look along the mattress seams, the corners of the base, the joints of the frame and the back of the headboard, then any sofa or chair that someone sleeps on. You are looking for dark spots, pale cast skins and the bugs themselves; the first signs shows each one. Bites alone do not prove it, and bites clustered round the ankles in a house with a pet may be fleas in Burnt Oak instead.
What not to do
- Do not drag the mattress downstairs and leave it by the bins or on the footpath behind the house, where it can pass bugs on
- Do not move into another tenant's room or onto the sofa to escape the bites
- Do not buy a second-hand bed to replace it until the problem has been dealt with
- Do not throw furniture away before speaking to us: a mattress does not always have to go
Tenants, Landlords and Booking
A private tenant should tell the landlord or agent in writing as soon as signs are found. Whether landlord or tenant pays depends on the tenancy agreement and on what caused the problem, so check it rather than guess. Either can book; we need a contact name, which rooms are affected and how to get in. Council and housing association tenants should report bed bugs to their landlord before arranging anything themselves.
A room is counted if it needs treating, such as a bedroom or a living room with a sofa bed, while halls, landings and stairs never are. We will tell you how to prepare, and preparing a room for treatment gives a sense of what is involved. How long it takes to settle depends on the rooms and how established the bugs were; if bites carry on after the period we give you, get back in touch, and why you might still see bed bugs explains why.
Keeping a Let Clear Between Tenants
- Landlords: look over beds and sofas at every change of tenant, before the new one moves in
- Check second-hand furniture on the path or driveway before it comes indoors
- Tenants: unpack after travelling on a hard floor, and wash clothes hot where the fabric allows
- In a house let by the room, ask everyone to mention bites early rather than waiting
For bed bugs across the borough, including the newer blocks, see Bed Bug Control Barnet and the Barnet bed bug advice.
