Pests When Buying Or Selling A House
It comes up more often than people expect, usually at the worst possible moment in the chain.
Buying
What A Survey Will And Will Not Tell You
A building survey is not a pest survey. A surveyor will note evidence they happen to see - droppings in a loft, obvious damage, wasp activity - but they are not lifting insulation, moving stored boxes or inspecting drains, and a level 2 homebuyer report is more limited again.
So evidence of pests in a survey is worth taking seriously precisely because it was visible without looking hard.
What is worth doing yourself on a second viewing: put your head into the loft, look at the roofline from the garden, look behind the kitchen units if you can, check the airbricks, and look at the drain chamber if there is one. Twenty minutes, no cost, and it occasionally changes the offer.
Selling
What To Say, And When
The property information form asks about known issues, and an active infestation you are aware of is one. Beyond the legal position, there is a practical one: a problem found by the buyer's surveyor after an offer costs you more than the same problem disclosed and dealt with beforehand, because at that point the buyer controls the conversation.
The useful move is to deal with it and keep the paperwork. A dated report saying what was found, what was done and what was proofed turns "there were rats" into "there were rats, here is the treatment and the proofing". Those are very different sentences to a buyer.
Do not, under any circumstances, tidy up the evidence and say nothing. It is the one approach that can turn a manageable problem into a legal one.
Mid-chain
When It Turns Up At The Worst Time
Typical sequence: survey flags evidence in the loft, buyer's solicitor raises it, everybody stops.
What unblocks it is speed and specificity. An inspection with a written finding - what it is, how far it has gone, what it needs, what it costs - gives both sides something to negotiate about instead of a fear. Most of these are resolved by a treatment and a proofing quote rather than by a price reduction.
We do this work regularly and we will attend at short notice for exactly this reason. The report goes to whoever instructed us, and it says what was found rather than what anybody would prefer it to say.
Empty property
The Bit Everybody Forgets
A house standing empty between completion and moving in, or over a long chain, changes faster than people expect. No heating, no disturbance, and waste traps drying out and opening a direct route from the drain into the room.
If a property is going to stand empty, run every tap and flush every WC when you visit, keep some heating on if you can, and take the rubbish away rather than leaving bags in the kitchen. It is a free fix for a problem that is a nuisance to deal with after you have moved in.
On the Kent coast, where a great deal of property is second homes and holiday lets, this is a year-round issue rather than a moving- house one, and the Deal page covers it in more detail.
Common Questions
The survey found droppings in the loft. Is that a deal breaker?
Rarely. What it needs is somebody to say what it is, how far it has gone and what it costs to deal with - then it becomes a negotiation rather than a fear.
Do I have to declare a past infestation?
The property information form asks about known issues. Dealing with it and keeping the paperwork is far stronger than saying nothing.
Can you come at short notice for a sale?
Yes - it is a common reason we get called, and the written report is what the solicitors want.
Going further
Advice Worth Reading First
What Happens On A First Visit
Nobody enjoys booking this. Here is exactly what it involves, so there are no surprises on the day.
Read more ›What It Costs, And What Changes It
One published price, and an honest account of why everything else is quoted instead of listed.
Read more ›Pests In A Rented Home: Who Is Responsible?
General information rather than legal advice, and the short answer is that it usually turns on how they got in.
Read more ›Pest Control And Your Food Hygiene Rating
The treatment is half of it. The paperwork is the half that gets scored.
Read more ›Preparing For A Treatment
Some of this genuinely changes the result. Some of it just saves time. Both are worth doing.
Read more ›Which Trade Does What
We would rather tell you it is somebody else’s job than take the money and leave you with it.
Read more ›One-Off Treatment Or A Contract?
Contracts suit some premises and are a waste of money for others. Here is the honest test.
Read more ›Wildlife Law, And What Cannot Be Treated
Some of the things people ring about are protected, and a firm that offers to deal with them anyway is offering to break the law on your behalf.
Read more ›Pest Control In A Flat Or A Block
The hardest part is rarely the pest. It is that the part of the building causing it is not yours.
Read more ›Get A Free Quote
Tell us your postcode and what you are seeing. We will come back with a time and a fixed price before anything is booked.
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