Moving is one of the ways bed bugs get carried from one home to another, and it is a moment when careful containment matters.
Furniture, new and secondhand
- Never take furniture found on the streetNYC Health advises this directly.
- Inspect secondhand furniture in daylight before it comes insideNot a prohibition, since plenty of used furniture is fine. Check seams, joints, undersides, the staple line on upholstered pieces, and anywhere two pieces of wood meet. Look for dark rust-coloured spots, shed skins or live insects. EPA confirms bed bugs travel on furniture, bedding, luggage, boxes and clothing.
If you are moving out of a place with a problem
If the problem is confirmed or reasonably suspected, treat the move as the containment step. Run suitable fabrics through a hot dryer and bag them sealed afterwards. Use clean containers, and avoid moving boxes or belongings that may have been exposed without inspecting or containing them first. Whether specific furniture should come with you is a question for the professional who inspected.
Inspect the new apartment before anything goes in
An empty apartment is the easiest inspection you will ever do and you will not have this access again. Look at baseboards, closet corners, behind radiators, and at any mattress already there. This is also the moment to notice the pest routes generally: gaps around the pipes under the sinks, the gap under the front door, openings behind the stove.
Ask about the building's history
§27-2018.1 of the New York City Administrative Code requires an owner to furnish every tenant signing a vacancy lease a notice setting out the bedbug infestation history for the prior year, for both the apartment and the building it is in.
There is a second requirement most renters never hear about. The same section says an owner of a multiple dwelling must either give every tenant, on a new lease and on every renewal, or post in a prominent public place in the building, two things: a copy of the most recent annual bedbug report filed with the city, and a notice about preventing, detecting and removing bedbugs. So a building either hands you this or has it posted somewhere you can find it. Asking is normal.
What to tell your new building
Right after you move in and before there is any problem:
I noticed some open gaps around the pipes under the sinks. Could those be sealed?
Easiest request you will ever make, because the apartment is empty and nobody has to work around your furniture.
Pest control in an apartment building requires treatment, repairs, access and information working together. See how the pieces fit.
Send this to your building
If other apartments have the same problem, one message to your super or managing agent does more than ten calls about one unit. Copy this and send it however you already talk to them.
Edit it before you send if you want. No sign-up, nothing collected, and we do not see who you send it to.
Where this requirement comes from
Sources
- NYC Health — Bedbugs: Information for Tenants and Building Owners
- US EPA — Preparing for Treatment Against Bed Bugs
- HPD — Bedbugs (property owner requirements, the DOHMH Commissioner’s Order, and annual reporting)
- NYC Administrative Code §27-2018.1 — Notice of bedbug infestation history (amended by Local Law 2017/069, effective 2017-11-06)
- Local Law 69 of 2017 — annual bedbug reporting by multiple dwelling owners (PDF)
We are a pest control company working in Bronx and Brooklyn apartment buildings, and this is general information rather than advice about your apartment or your lease. Where our sources conflict with each other, we say so on the page rather than picking one quietly.