I have bed bugs in a rental. What now?
The short answer
Report it in writing with photographs the day you confirm it, do not move belongings to another room or unit, and ask specifically whether adjoining units are being inspected. In a multi-unit building, treating one apartment while the neighbours go uninspected is the single most common reason a bed bug treatment fails.
The sequence
- Confirm it with physical evidence, not bites. Keep a specimen.
- Report in writing, dated, with photographs, and keep a copy.
- Do not move mattresses, bedding or furniture into other rooms or to a friend's house. This is how it spreads and it is also how liability arguments start.
- Ask who is treating, how many visits are included, and whether the adjoining units and the units above and below are being inspected.
- Follow the preparation list exactly. Incomplete preparation is the most common cause of failure and it is the part a landlord can point at.
Your local rules may be specific
A number of US cities and states, and some Canadian provinces, have bed bug provisions covering disclosure of previous infestations, response timeframes and who bears the cost. They override the general habitability position where they exist, and they are worth finding before the conversation rather than during it.
Do not discard furniture at the kerb without wrapping and marking it. In several jurisdictions it is an offence, and it reliably moves the problem to whoever takes it home.
Also asked
- Should I move out?
- Moving without treating what you take with you relocates the infestation, which is the outcome nobody wants. If you do move, treat or launder and seal everything first, and expect to be asked about it by your next landlord in jurisdictions with disclosure rules.
Companies whose reviewers name bed bugs
697 pest control businesses in the United States and Canada have reviewers who write about bed bugs. Every listing shows the full rating distribution rather than the average, the share that is one or two star, and whether the owner replies.
Read next
- How do I prepare for bed bug treatment?Get the preparation list from the company in writing and follow it exactly. It will usually involve laundering…
- How do I know if I have bed bugs?Look for the evidence rather than the bites: small dark ink-dot staining along mattress seams and in the bed f…
- Who pays for pest control, the landlord or the tenant?In most of the United States and Canada a landlord has an obligation to provide habitable premises, and a sign…
- Heat treatment or chemical treatment for bed bugs?Heat kills all life stages including eggs in a single treatment and leaves no residual, so anything that survi…
General information about pest problems and about hiring, not advice about your specific property. Pest control licensing, wildlife protection and landlord and tenant law are all set state by state and province by province across the United States and Canada, so your own regulator is the current answer. How we read the data.