Carpet Moth Control for Landlords and Rental Properties in Newbury

Why a Long Tenancy Is the Risk

Everything about carpet moths favours stillness, and a settled tenancy is stillness by definition.

• Furniture is placed once and stays where it is for years
• Nothing is redecorated, so nothing is moved for it
• The tenant does not look under the bed and has no reason to
• The landlord does not either, because nothing is being reported
• A quiet tenancy generates no inspections that go past a glance
• The damage is invisible until furniture moves, which happens at the end

The Inspection Interval That Would Have Caught It

Not a full survey. A specific, quick thing done at whatever interval you already visit.

1. Move one heavy item. One, rotating which — the wardrobe this time, the bed next time. Look at the floor and the underside
2. Look along the carpet edge in one or two rooms, particularly behind furniture
3. Look at the stairs, at the outer ends of the treads
4. Photograph what you see, including when it is nothing, and date it
5. Ask the tenant whether they have seen small moths near the floor. Most people have and have not thought to mention it

Five minutes, twice a year. It is the difference between finding this at year two and finding it at year six, and the cost between those two points is most of the money in this subject.

Why It Matters More the Longer the Tenancy Runs

• Year one or two: one small area, treatable, carpet repairable or fine
• Year three or four: a larger area or two areas, still treatable, carpet possibly patchable
• Year five or six: several areas, likely more than one room, and the carpet is now a replacement rather than a repair

Treatment costs roughly the same at each of those points. The flooring does not.

At Check-Out, If It Has Already Happened

• Photograph everything before anything is moved further
• Compare against the check-in inventory, if it recorded the floor under the furniture
• Get the property treated rather than only quoting for a carpet — a new carpet into an infested house is the worst outcome available
• Keep the invoice and a specifically described scope on the file
• Take the age and remaining life of the carpet into account, which any adjudicator will

Between Tenancies

The cheapest and most effective point to deal with it. Rooms are empty, every carpet edge is reachable, nothing has to be worked around, and the problem has had less time to spread than it will have by the end of the next tenancy.

1. Treat the whole property rather than the room where something was seen
2. Lift and dispose of old underlay rather than fitting over it
3. Have the exposed floor and perimeter treated before new carpet goes down
4. Photograph the floor under where furniture will stand, and put it in the inventory

Treatment starts from £220. Tell us how long the tenancy ran and when the furniture was last moved — those two answers predict the scope more reliably than anything a tenant reports.