Fleas
A Previous Tenant's Pet and a Hendon Let
Not every let allows pets, but some do, and some tenants keep one anyway. A cat that slept in one bedroom and the lounge leaves eggs in the carpet, down the sides of a sofa and in the gaps between floorboards. The animal leaves with its owner; the eggs do not. How you can have fleas without a pet explains why the new tenant is often the first to notice.
Why it starts when you move in
Flea pupae can wait in an empty room until warmth and movement tell them someone is there. In a student let that empties over the summer, the first busy week in September is exactly that signal. Bites around the ankles and lower legs in the rooms the pet used, rather than all over the house, are a typical pattern. Flea problems after moving in goes into this.
Foxes and visiting cats
Where no tenant has ever had a pet, a fox sleeping under the shed or a neighbour's cat coming in through an open ground-floor window can still bring fleas into a garden-facing room. It is less common than a previous pet, but worth mentioning if you have seen either.
Hendon's interwar houses often have their original timber floors under the carpet, and in older lets the carpet itself may be a cheap one laid over boards with gaps between them. Larvae can shelter in those gaps as well as in the pile, which is one reason a quick vacuum at the end of a tenancy is not always enough.
Who Books Flea Treatment: Landlord or Tenant?
Start by telling the landlord or letting agent in writing, with the date you moved in and the rooms where you have been bitten. If fleas are found soon after a tenancy starts, and the previous tenant had a pet, that is useful for the landlord to know. Check what your tenancy agreement says about pest control; it may set out who arranges and pays for it. Whether landlords need flea treatment between tenancies looks at this from the landlord's side.
- Landlords letting to pet owners can book treatment in the gap after they leave, while the rooms are empty
- Tenants who bring a pet into a let should treat the animal through a vet and keep bedding washed
- In a shared house, tell the other tenants, since fleas move on socks and trouser legs between rooms
Getting Ready for the Visit
Tell us whether it is a whole house, a single room or a flat, and which rooms are affected. Vacuum the floors thoroughly, including carpet edges and under beds, and empty the vacuum into an outside bin. Wash bedding on a hot cycle, and clear clothes, shoes and boxes off the floor so the carpet can be reached. If there is a pet in the house now, it needs its own treatment from a vet, because the house and the animal are separate problems; preparing for flea treatment has the full list. You will be told what to expect afterwards. How long fleas take to clear depends on the rooms and the carpet, and keeping on vacuuming helps.
After the Treatment in a Shared House
A few bites for a short while afterwards can happen as the last fleas hatch. If biting keeps on well after that, or starts in a room that was not treated, get back in touch. Bites in lines or clusters on the upper body, with no pet in the house's history, may mean bed bugs instead, and tiny holes in a wool rug left by the last tenant are more likely carpet moths. For fleas across the borough, including gardens used by foxes, see Flea Control Barnet.
