Will Manchester City Council treat bed bugs?

Unlike some councils that have stopped treating insects altogether, Manchester City Council still runs a pest control service for homes in the city. It has a page to help you identify the pest, including bed bugs, and a separate page listing what it charges. Whether it is the right route for you depends mostly on who owns your home, and a little on how quickly you need it done.

What the council service covers

The council’s pest control pages cover the common household pests: rats and mice, wasps, fleas, cockroaches and bed bugs among them. You book through the council’s website, pay the charge, and a council pest control officer visits.

For bed bugs, a council visit is normally an insecticide treatment. Like any spray treatment, it usually needs a follow-up visit about two weeks later, because most insecticides do not kill eggs and the young bugs hatch after the first visit. Ask when you book whether the follow-up is included in the charge or paid separately.

What councils do not usually offer is heat treatment, which takes a full day with specialist equipment. If you want the job done in one visit, or a spray course has already failed, you will need a private technician.

Who should call the council, and who should not

Owner-occupiers

If you own your home, the council service is open to you and is often the cheapest route for a straightforward case. Compare its current bed bug charge with a private quote, and ask both how many visits are included.

Council and housing association tenants

Report bed bugs to your landlord first. In Manchester most former council homes are managed by housing associations, and they have their own arrangements for pests. They may also need to check the flats around yours, which is something only the landlord can arrange in a shared building.

Private tenants and students

Tell your landlord or letting agent in writing, with photos and the dates you found each sign. In a shared house or HMO, bed bugs in one room are a problem for the whole house, and treatment is normally the landlord’s job. Booking the council yourself to treat one bedroom rarely works, because the bugs move along the landing.

Businesses

Hotels, hostels, serviced apartments and other businesses are not covered by the domestic service. They need a commercial contractor.

If you live in Salford

Salford City Council runs its own pest control service with its own charges. If your postcode is in Salford, including Ordsall, Pendleton, Salford Quays or the M3 streets on the Salford side of the Irwell, use Salford’s pages rather than Manchester’s.

Council or private: how to choose

The council is a good choice when you own your home, the problem is caught early in one or two rooms, and you can wait for the first available appointment. A private technician is usually the better choice when:

• a spray treatment has already been done and the bites came back
• you need it finished quickly, for example before a tenancy starts or a guest arrives
• bugs are in a sofa or divan base that spray struggles to reach, and heat would suit better
• you are a landlord or agent arranging treatment for a whole house, with tenant notices and a written record
• you want a guaranteed return visit if signs reappear

Private prices in Manchester sit close to typical UK figures outside London. As a guide, a spray course for a one-bedroom flat is £280 to £550, and heat is £700 to £1,100. Our cost calculator works out a range for your home, and you can compare it with the council’s current charge.

Getting ready, whichever you choose

The preparation is the same for a council or private visit, and it matters as much as the treatment itself.

1. Wash bedding and clothes from affected rooms at 60°C, then tumble dry on hot for at least 30 minutes, and seal them in bags.
2. Clear the floor around beds and sofas so the edges and skirting can be reached.
3. Leave the furniture in the room. Moving a bed or sofa to another room spreads the bugs.
4. Do not use shop sprays or foggers first. The NHS says bed bugs are hard to get rid of yourself, and sprays can push them deeper into walls and furniture.
5. Keep sleeping in your own bed until the treatment, so the bugs stay in one place.

If it is not bed bugs

Council officers and private technicians both see plenty of cases that turn out to be something else: carpet beetle larvae, fleas from a pet or a previous tenant’s pet, or a skin reaction. If you have bites but have never seen a bug, an inspection before paying for treatment can save money.

For anything beyond a simple one-room case, a Manchester bed bug treatment quote from a private technician gives you a second figure to set against the council’s, and a choice of heat as well as spray.