Short answer
Yes. Bed bugs can crawl between flats through gaps around pipes, cables, skirting boards and floorboards, and along corridors, and they move faster when a neighbour's flat is treated or left empty. In a block or converted house, the flats either side, above and below should be checked whenever one is found.
Contents
If you live in a flat and have just found bed bugs, one of the first questions is whether they came from next door, and whether they will go back. Both are possible. This guide explains how bed bugs move between flats and what that means for treatment.
How bed bugs get from one flat to another
Bed bugs cannot fly or jump, but they are good at walking, and they can squeeze through a gap about the thickness of a credit card. Between flats, the usual routes are:
- Service routes. Gaps where pipes, radiator tails and cables pass through walls and floors, and shared risers in purpose-built blocks.
- Skirting and floor voids. Old timber floors and loose skirting boards leave continuous gaps along a wall.
- Electrical fittings. Back-to-back sockets and switches on a party wall.
- Corridors and stairs. Bugs can walk under a door and along a landing, or be carried on bags and coats.
- Shared items. Furniture left on a landing or in a bin store, and laundry rooms.
When they move most
Bed bugs feed on people and stay close to where people sleep. They tend to spread when something disturbs that arrangement:
- A treatment next door. Shop sprays in particular drive bugs away from the treated area, sometimes through the wall.
- An empty flat. If a flat is left empty, hungry bugs go looking for a host.
- A large infestation. Once numbers are high, bugs spread out from the bedroom in all directions.
That is why treating only one flat in a building so often fails. The bugs in the flats around it repopulate the treated flat within weeks.
Which buildings are most at risk
In Liverpool, the housing stock makes a big difference:
- Converted houses. The tall Georgian and Victorian houses around the Georgian Quarter, Canning, Toxteth and Aigburth were never built as flats. Floors, stairs and services are shared, and gaps are common.
- Apartment blocks. City-centre blocks have risers and corridors linking every flat, and a mix of owners, tenants and short-let guests.
- Terraces. A solid party wall between two terraced houses is a much better barrier. Spread between terraces is less common, though not impossible.
What to do if you live in a flat
- Tell your landlord, agent or managing agent in writing. They are the people who can arrange checks in other flats.
- Mention any neighbours with bites. If you know the flat above or next door has had a problem, say so.
- Do not use shop sprays. You risk sending bugs into your neighbours’ flats, or back into yours from theirs.
- Keep sleeping in your bed. Moving rooms spreads them within your own flat.
How a building should be treated
When bed bugs are confirmed in one flat, a good specialist will ask about the flats around it. The best results come from:
- Inspecting the neighbouring units, at least the ones either side, above and below.
- Treating affected flats on the same days, so bugs have nowhere untreated to retreat to.
- Sealing gaps around pipes and skirting after treatment, which slows any future spread.
- Checking common areas, such as laundry rooms and bin stores, if bugs are in several flats.
This needs someone to coordinate, usually the managing agent or freeholder. In a block with many owners, that can take time, but it is still cheaper than treating the same flat three times. Our page on apartments, hotels and short lets covers working with a managing agent.
Heat or spray in a flat?
Both work in flats. Heat clears a flat in one day and kills eggs at the same time, which suits a flat that needs to be back in use quickly. It can push a few bugs into neighbouring flats if the gaps are large, so a check next door afterwards is wise. Spray and steam takes several visits but leaves a residual product in gaps and voids that keeps working for a while. See heat treatment for how a heat day runs in a block.
Signs your neighbour’s bugs have reached you
The NHS lists the usual signs: bites, often in a line on skin exposed during sleep; small black spots on the mattress or bed frame; tiny blood spots on sheets; and the bugs themselves, flat and brown, around the size of an apple seed. The British Pest Control Association adds that they often show first along the edge of the mattress nearest the wall.
If you find any of these in a Liverpool flat, Liverpool bed bug treatment starts with an inspection that covers your flat and, where possible, the ones around it.