Fleas Waiting in a Re-Let Room
A flea spends its adult life on an animal, but everything before that happens in the floor. Eggs roll off wherever the animal settles, larvae work down into the pile away from the light, and the pupa waits inside a sticky silk cocoon for a signal to emerge. Warmth and vibration are that signal, which is why a room shut up between lets can look immaculate at a viewing and produce bites within days of somebody moving in. Can you have fleas without having pets? explains how a household with no animals ends up being bitten.
What the bites look like
Flea bites are usually small, itchy and clustered around the ankles and lower legs, because that is as high as a flea reaches from the carpet. You may also find dark specks of flea dirt at the edge of a mattress or beside a chair leg, or see something small jump onto a sock. Bites that turn up overnight on the arms, neck and shoulders fit bed bugs better, and itchy skin along with small bristly larvae at the carpet edge points to carpet beetles. How to know if you have fleas in your home runs through the checks, and a pharmacist or GP is the right call for a bite that looks infected.
Putting It to Your Landlord or Agent
Raise it in writing early. Note the date you moved in, the date the bites began, which rooms they happen in and whether you have seen a flea, then send that to your landlord or letting agent rather than mentioning it in passing. Who arranges and pays for the treatment depends on your tenancy agreement and on the circumstances, including whether the previous occupant kept an animal, so it is worth checking what the agreement says. In a house let room by room, ask whether anyone else has been bitten, because the person in the next room may not have said anything.
If you are the landlord or the agent
Treating a room while it stands empty is simpler than working round a new tenant's belongings, and heads off a complaint in the first fortnight. Tell us which rooms the animal used, leave the hall and landing out of the count, and say when the room will be free. Do landlords need flea treatment between tenancies? covers when it is worth doing, and neighbouring Cricklewood looks at what a move brings with it.
Pets in Kilburn Flats
Plenty of flats here allow a cat or a dog, and in a small flat the animal's favourite places sit close together, so the bed, the sofa and the rug by the door may all be involved at once. A cat with the run of a long shared garden meets other animals on the same ground, and foxes lie up under sheds and decking, so fleas reach homes whose own pet never goes far. Speak to your vet about treating every animal in the household at the same time as the rooms are dealt with, because a pet treatment on its own never reaches what is already down in the carpet.
Getting a Room Ready
- Vacuum the carpet thoroughly, into the edges, under the bed and along the skirting, then empty the vacuum into an outside bin
- Wash bedding, throws and any pet bedding on a hot cycle where the labels allow it
- Clear bags, shoes and boxes off the floor and out of the bottom of the wardrobe
- Leave rugs where they are rather than carrying them into another room
- Count the rooms that need treating, leaving out the hall, the landing and the stairs
Preparing a property for flea treatment has the full list, and our Brent flea advice takes in the wider picture. Where fleas hide around the home helps if you are unsure which rooms to include, and fleas in beds and sofas covers the furniture in a let room.
After the visit
Carry on vacuuming daily for a while, because cocoons can go on hatching and the vibration helps bring them out. How long that lasts depends on the room and on how settled the fleas had become; how long flea treatment takes to work sets out what affects it. If bites are not easing, or live fleas keep turning up, contact us again. Why fleas can still bite after treatment gives the usual reasons.
Keeping Fleas Out of a Let Room
Most of this comes down to the animals and the floor covering. Flea Control Brent covers homes across the rest of the borough.
- Keep every pet's flea protection up to date, as your vet advises
- Vacuum where the animal sleeps and wash its bedding every week or two
- Check a second-hand rug, mattress or armchair before it comes into the room
- If a pet has lived in a room you are leaving, say so, so the next tenant is not caught out
- Ask the vet to check a new or rescue animal before it settles on the carpet
