Carpet moths in new tenancy - to stay or go?

[Newmama2222]

Hi everyone - I was about to sign on a new tenancy agreement and when I went to measure up the second time, I noticed moths fluttering on the carpets in both bedrooms. The estate agent of course played this down as "flies" (lol) but later confirmed there is a carpet moth infestation. They said the Landlord will change the carpets and fumigate, in the space of 1x week before the tenancy starts. I experienced carpet beetles before and 1x fumigation did not do the trick as eggs hatched and the cycle started again, so I flagged this, especially given the landlord is changing the carpets to wool carpets again... not synthetic...despite me asking for the latter. I just received an email from the estate agent to say:

"We deal with hundreds of tenancies in the area, in my manager’s seven years, he has not seen a reoccurrence of carpets months in the same property after fumigation."

At this point I am not sure whether to proceed or not. I have a 3 year old and we lived with carpet beetles in another rental for two years, it was quite stressful to be quite honest..! The estate agent I think would need to give me back my holding deposit.

Would you pull out at this point or go ahead and risk it?

I'd stay well away, there's enough stories on here and online about the problems months can cause. Assuming the landlord fumigates, you can't he sure all the buggers are dead. I thought I had them in this place but they were food moths and my knickers were safe. The thought of my clothes being infested made my skin crawl.

There is no certainty that you would get your Holding fee back.
Are you confident of finding another Rental in the time frame you need?
I am not saying you should proceed and you should make fumigation etc a condition of you proceeding if you do but with the difficulty in finding Rentals now in most areas you need to decide if its a deal breaker

It depends on how much you want the property, and what supply is like in your area. In mine, there are a dozen applicants for every rental, and they are so, so expensive compared with a couple of years ago, so the fairly-priced mothy home I live in now wasn't something I was going to give up after finding we had them!

I moved into this house earlier this year, and found on the day we arrived that moth larvae were wriggling around in, and had munched through, the carpet in several areas, and I was squishing a couple on the walls every morning. Right now, I am pretty confident I have eliminated them though a strict regime of moving stuff around and vacuuming. It was pretty tedious, but we've not seen any for about 3-4 months, and I inspect carpets and stored clothes all the time for pupae.

Don’t! I inherited moths fro my mother’s possessions and only think I am clear about 3 years later.

They can survive as dormant eggs for years.

I am so paranoid now anything I purchase second hand has to be frozen for 3 days.

I actually thought it was three months you had to freeze for.

But you are right: it is a pain.

The ONLY comforting thing op is that you could more easily fumigate (and steam clean carpets) before moving anything in than most can once established in a property. But getting it dealt with would be of critical importance or they will infest all your natural fibres.

I'd at least stall and ask for a contribution/full payment of this treatment. You can only ask.

Urgh nope nope nope.

Id only sign after Id seen that the place had had all the carpets removed, fumigated and new carpets or even better laminate or lino throughout

Thankfully I CAN get my holding deposit back. The fact he's putting wool carpets back in is beyond me - WHY JUST WHY?

The infestation must have been bad for it to be across both bedrooms. I've decided not to risk it. I like the place otherwise and the location is great but the rent is not cheap and dealing with an ongoing infestation for another two years isn't worth it...

Take it as a unique opportunity to live alongside fellow lepidoptera.

good decision op.

@Calliopespa72 hours minimum for freezing and then straight in the wash.

I love the positive spin 🤣