How do I check a flat for pests before I sign?

A ten minute look during a viewing tells you a lot, and nobody minds you opening a cupboard. You will not see everything, because pests hide by day and some signs are cleaned away before viewings. But droppings, egg cases and traps are hard to hide, and the questions you ask in writing tell you the rest.

Finding a sign does not always mean walk away. It means ask, get the answer in writing, and get advice before you sign or agree a price.

Where to look

Take a phone torch. Start in the kitchen and bathroom, where cockroaches and mice find water.

1. Under the kitchen sink. Back corners, around the pipes, any gaps where pipes go through the wall.
2. Behind and beside the fridge and cooker. Shine the torch down the gaps. This is where grease, crumbs and cockroaches collect.
3. Cupboard hinges and corners. Open a few kitchen units. Look at the hinge screws and the top corners.
4. Along the skirting boards and under the kickboards at the bottom of the units.
5. The bathroom. Under the basin, behind the toilet, around the bath panel.
6. In a furnished place, the beds and sofa. Lift a sheet corner and look along the mattress seams and the bed frame joints. Check sofa seams under the cushions.
7. Lofts, cellars and boiler cupboards, if it is a house. These are where mice and rats leave the clearest signs.

What the signs mean

• Specks like ground pepper in cupboard corners and hinges are likely cockroach droppings. Small brown capsules are egg cases. Our page on droppings and egg cases shows both.
• Droppings like grains of rice, gnawed edges and greasy marks along walls point to mice. Larger droppings point to rats. See the mice and rats guide.
• Clusters of small dark spots like ink dots on mattress seams, and pale shed skins, are signs of bed bugs.
• Sticky traps, bait stations or small dots of gel tell you someone has been dealing with something. That is not bad on its own, but ask what and when.
• Dead cockroaches can mean a treatment is working, or a problem is ongoing. Small, tan ones with two stripes behind the head are German cockroaches, which breed indoors, so this is worth a direct question, not a guess.

What to ask, in writing

Ask the landlord, agent or seller by email, so you have the answer on record:

• Has the property, or the building, had any pest treatment recently? Which pest, and who treated it?
• Was there a follow-up visit, and is there a written report?
• In a block of flats: is there a building-wide pest contract, and how do residents report problems?
• If you saw signs: what are these, and what will be done before I move in?

If you can, ask the current tenant or a neighbour how things are. They have no reason to dress it up.

Some cities and countries require landlords to tell new tenants about past bed bug problems, or set out who must treat pests in a rental. Others do not. Your local housing authority or tenancy board, a tenants’ union, or Citizens Advice in the UK can tell you what applies where you are. Our page for renters has more.

If you are buying

Droppings on a second viewing are worth acting on before you commit. Ask for a pest inspection by a professional, ideally before you are legally bound, and get the report in writing. Mice or cockroaches are usually fixable. What matters is how big the problem is, whether there is damage, and what it will cost to put right.

Whether you can renegotiate, and how, depends on where you are buying and how far the sale has got. Your solicitor, conveyancer or estate agent can advise. A written report gives them something concrete to work with.

If you sign anyway

Take dated photos of anything you found at the viewing and on the day you get the keys, before your things go in. Put monitor traps out on day one. If something shows up, you have a clear record of what was there before you. Just moved in and found pests has the first week plan.