Student accommodation/bed bugs

[Jackdog39]

Hello, just looking for advice or if any mumsnetters have encountered this issue.
My son is due to return to university this weekend, he's in his second year and in a private house share with 7 other students.
One of the students went to visit the property and found evidence of bed bugs, stained mattress with spots of blood in lines and an actual bed bug. He has since withdrawn from the accomodation and is effectively homeless for the next term.
My son went to visit the property and said the landlord confirmed it was pest free and that his mattress looked ok and the place was clean.
Can anyone advise how to check for bed bugs? I've read some real horror stories about eradicating them. Could he possibly bring them back home with him?
The accommodation is costing small fortune and we've been paying since July, despite the fact that term doesn't start for 2 weeks.
I feel a bit lost about what to do, finding new accommodation would be hard and withdrawing from the contract even harder.

I saw something recently about putting a towel or pillow case on the mattress and iron over it for a while and the heat will Draw out the bedbugs .... perhaps check online first in case it was nonsense
With university though they charge a fortune so I'd be asking for a fresh new mattress, also if there are bedbugs in the house they'll come back to that mattress on something, clothing, towel, books etc where they're carried easily betweeen rooms

Yes he could bring them home with him. Everything worn in a bed bug infested house needs to be boil washed. If bed bugs were found earlier then I would ask the landlord for a copy of confirmation of treatment by a pest controller.

Bed bugs are a complete pain to get rid of. A, very clean, tenant of mine picked them up, from a hotel or public transport or something.

Look for them along the seams of mattresses or edges of bedframes or bedside drawers for small black dots which are the eggs. My tenant sprayed and did everything she could but pest control immediately found a small colony she had missed, and hers was only a minor infestation. She ended up buying a chest freezer to put in the living room. She had to put all her clothes in plastic bags and then freeze them for a week. It has meant that after the original pest control visit she has not had to call them back.

I would have a major hunt. Then if you find any evidence, take photos and inform the landlord immediately. And seek advice from the University student housing, Shelter or someone. Or, for a fee, pest control will come out and then let you know if they find anything. Normally getting rid of pests is tenants responsibility (unless it is landlord negligence such as having rat holes) but this would not be the a case if you can prove they were there at the start. (Tenant and I split costs.)

Bites happen in lines. Normally about three or so at a time.

The place will need to be chemically or steam treated. Freezing is apparently as good as boil washing for killing any bugs in clothes.

I now inspect mattresses in hotels, keep my suitcase off the floor and put things on hangers not in drawers. Hotels apparently use traps with phenomes (sp?) to monitor and alert them to problems. Trouble is that if there is fresh blood around they prefer that to artificial scents. Traps are probably available on Amazon.

Thank you for all the advice, we have spoken to the agents who rambled a lot and promised to send the pest control certificate. Apparently the mattress in question has been removed and destroyed. My husband and I are going to visit prior to moving day just to check it all out and have a good check down the seams of the mattress and all the nooks and crannies.
It's enough to make you scream. The cost of the place is eye watering, I would never let anyone sleep on a mattress in that state. What a mess.

The mattress is just the most clear sign of bedbugs which will live in the whole flat. Removing the mattress does not get rid of them. Check around skirtings too.