Moving day: a pest plan from viewing to unpacking

Most pests that arrive with a move do not walk in. They ride in: in a used box, a second-hand sofa, the back of a microwave, a bag of bedding. That is good news, because it means a move has checkpoints. Look properly at the viewing, check what you buy, pack so nothing hitches a lift, and watch the new place for a few weeks. None of it needs special kit, and most of it costs time rather than money.

And if you are moving to get away from cockroaches or bed bugs, you are not the first, and you are not to blame. Pests turn up in clean homes. They travel between flats, in deliveries and in furniture. What follows is the order that stops you bringing them along.

Stage one: the viewing

Ten minutes with a phone torch tells you a lot. Nobody minds you opening a cupboard. Pests hide by day and some signs get cleaned away before viewings, but droppings, egg cases and old traps are hard to hide completely.

1. Under the kitchen sink, in the back corners and where pipes go through the wall.
2. The gaps beside the fridge and cooker. Grease and crumbs collect there, and so do cockroaches.
3. Cupboard hinges and top corners. Specks like ground pepper are likely cockroach droppings. Small brown capsules are egg cases. Our page on droppings and egg cases shows both.
4. The bathroom: under the basin, behind the toilet, around the bath panel.
5. In a furnished place, the beds and sofa. Lift a sheet corner and look along the mattress seams. Clusters of small dark spots like ink dots point to bed bugs.

A sign is not an automatic reason to walk away. Sticky traps or dots of gel bait mean someone has been dealing with something, which can be a good sign. What matters is what it was, when, and whether it was followed up. The full walk-through, room by room, is in how to check a flat for pests before you sign.

Before you sign: ask in writing

Email the landlord, agent or seller, so the answer is on record. Has the property or the building been treated for pests recently? Which pest, who treated it, and was there a follow-up visit? In a block of flats, is there a building-wide pest contract? If you saw signs, what will be done before you move in?

Some places require landlords to tell new tenants about past bed bug problems. Many 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. If you are buying, your solicitor, conveyancer or estate agent can tell you whether a pest inspection before you are bound is worth it. Our page for renters has more on the paper trail.

Stage two: second-hand furniture

A move is when people buy the most used furniture in one go. It is still a good idea. It just needs a look before it comes through the door, not after it is in the bedroom.

• Check it outside, in a garage or at the seller’s door. Bring a torch, an old plastic card to slide along seams, and a pale sheet so anything that drops is easy to see.
• Beds and headboards are the highest risk for bed bugs. Screw holes, joints and the underside. If you keep a used mattress, fit an encasement and put interceptors under the bed legs from the first night.
• Electronics and appliances attract cockroaches because they are warm. Microwaves, printers, games consoles, robot vacuums. Torch on the vents and underside, tap over the sheet, and never spray inside one.
• Cushions, curtains and rugs go through the hottest wash and tumble dry their care labels allow before they reach a living room.

Anything you are unsure about stays bagged and outside until it has been checked properly. The item-by-item list is in how to check second-hand furniture, and cockroaches in my microwave covers appliances in more depth.

Stage three: packing so nothing comes with you

If the old place has cockroaches, keep treating right up to moving day. Fewer of them means fewer chances to hitch a ride. Keep the gel bait and growth regulator going, following the label, and do not switch to spraying in the last week. Spray scatters cockroaches, and the nearest dark place to scatter into is your boxes. What you need for German cockroaches sets out the order if you are not sure what you should be using.

1. New boxes or plastic crates. Used cardboard from a shop or storeroom can already hold cockroaches or egg cases. Cardboard is dark, layered and glued: an ideal hiding place.
2. Pack in the cleanest room, away from the kitchen and bathroom, and tape each box shut straight away.
3. Shake out everything before it goes in. Books, papers, frames and shoes all have gaps.
4. Wash, dry, seal. Clothes and bedding go from the dryer straight into sealed bags.
5. Leave the open food behind. Packets, spices, pet food. Start fresh at the new place.
6. Mark the kitchen boxes, so you open them last and check them first.

Two things people try that do not do the job. Peppermint or lemon oil around the boxes smells lovely and does nothing to a cockroach already inside one. And a fogger in the old flat before you go misses the ones in the walls and can push them into the very boxes you are packing. Do foggers work explains why. The full packing plan, electronics included, is in how to move house without taking cockroaches with you.

Moving away from bed bugs is harder to do alone. Washing and hot drying every fabric, sealing it, and encasing the mattress all help, but bed bugs hide in frames, skirting and furniture, and they rarely go with DIY alone. Ask a pest professional what they would treat before the move, and get a written note of what was done. Can I get rid of bed bugs without an exterminator is honest about where the line sits.

Stage four: keys day and the first week

The first week is the best time to act on anything you find. The kitchen is empty, you can see every corner, and nothing you own is in the way yet.

1. Photograph before anything goes in. Cupboards, behind appliances, anything you noticed at the viewing. Dated photos taken before your boxes arrive show what was there before you.
2. Put monitor traps out on day one: kitchen, bathroom, and the room where the boxes go. See how to use monitor traps.
3. Clean the kitchen before the food goes in. Behind and under the cooker and fridge, inside every cupboard, along the kickboards.
4. Unpack in one room, ideally with a hard floor. Kitchen boxes last. Flatten and remove each box once it is empty.
5. Check the traps on the same day each week for a couple of months, adults and young ones counted apart.

Kids and pets: in the chaos of a move, traps and bait end up in odd places. Keep them up high or behind appliances, as the label says, and never leave products in open boxes. Unpack toys and pet bowls after the kitchen has been cleaned.

If something turns up

One cockroach in week one is a reason to check, not to panic. Name it first: a small tan one with two dark stripes behind the head is likely a German cockroach, the kind that breeds indoors, while a big dark one in the sink is more often in from the drains. Then let the traps decide. I saw one cockroach walks through what a single sighting can mean, and just moved in and found pests has the first-week plan for each pest.

If you rent, report it in writing in your first days, with the dated photos. Pests found that early can point to a problem that was there before you, and an early report puts it on record. Who pays depends on your country, your lease and sometimes the pest, so ask your housing authority, tenancy board, a tenants’ union, or in the UK the council’s environmental health team or Citizens Advice. How to document pests for your landlord shows what a good record looks like, and my landlord won’t deal with the pests covers what to do if nothing happens.

Call a professional if the traps keep catching young cockroaches after a month of baiting, if you find signs of bed bugs, or if you find rats, especially more than one. Our questions to ask a pest controller covers what to ask before you book. There is more for anyone mid-move on our moving home page.