Moth attack!

MrChips

Hi, my wife and I currently rent a small flat. We have been renting the same place for about 3 and a half years and have a good relationship with our landlords. They now live in New Zealand so correspondence is quite rare and is via email when it does happen (usually occasional just to check everything is ok, or to advise them if there is a problem).

This summer we have noticed a few small moths flying around and recently also discovered that they (or rather their offspring) have been tucking into our clothes with relish! Originally we saw maybe only a small number but over the last week they seem to have multiplied and each evening we must see a couple of dozen of them flying around.

We did try some products from Homebase earlier to try and solve the issue but they don't seem to have helped much (some paper strips left in the wardrobe and cupboards and some sort of plastic box which is meant to emit some poisonous vapours).

If this goes on much longer I think we'll need to get a professional in. So....my question is - is this our responsibility or our landlord's responsibility?

lynzpower

does your landlord not have a managing agent in the uk?

MrChips

No, we rented from them directly through gumtree.

Their daughter does also live in London (usually - she does go back to NZ from time to time) and if we need to get in touch with someone we get in touch with her). Otherwise they still have various friends here.

poppysarah

MrChips wrote: »

been renting the same place for about 3 and a half years

How long have you had moths?

You need to stop them getting in and eliminate them.

Ring the council's pest control and see what they say.

MrChips

Moths only turned up this summer. It was May I think as I recall spending the start of the world cup looking for solutions online!

poppysarah

What did you bring into the house a week or so before? Have you bought any second hand blankets or coats?


http://www.exterminexpestcontrol.com/shop/product_info.php/cPath/36/products_id/44
?

NEH

I can sympathise, i had been seeing a couple of holes in our clothes for a while but assumed that as they were old it wasn't anything to worry about. Then i noticed that some newer things had holes in too and after taking to people who also had problems it's moths...We've only found a couple of the blighters but we've used these hanging things, that don't smell as apparently they work....


Was it the hanging things you used?

BitterAndTwisted

In my opinion it is your responsibility to deal with these as it's your clothes which are attracting them or you've brought something into the property already infested.

It's my understanding that the larvae prefer unwashed clothing so I'd get everything laundered and dry-cleaned asap as well as taking measures to eradicate them by using camphor or other repellants.

adg1

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

In my opinion it is your responsibility to deal with these as it's your clothes which are attracting them or you've brought something into the property already infested.

Thats not entirely fair. Yes moths are attracted to clothes. I lived in a block of flats in Norbiton where, each summer, there was a plague of moths. Tiny, brown carpet munching moths.

They appeared every time the whether got warmer and disappeared in the colder months.

I also viewed a flat, built exactly the same time as my old flat, opened a cupboard and the moths were there chomping away.

It is very possible that they have always been present in the building, in the internal guts and pipeways and make themselves known when the weather turns warmer. They destroyed the carpets in that flat to the point the while pile came out when rubbed.

If you live in a block of flats you will have a freeholder/managing agent to approach. I would hazard a guess that all the flats have a very similar problem to yours and the whole building needs to be fumigated and de-mothed to make any actual difference.

Just laundering clothes (we had a baby and things were constantly cleaned - no change to the moths) or fumigating one flat will probably make very little difference.

You would need to approach your neighbours, club together and approach the freeholder/managing agents.

Good luck.

tbs624

MrChips wrote: »

Hi, my wife and I currently rent a small flat. We have been renting the same place for about 3 and a half years and have a good relationship with our landlords. ........So....my question is - is this our responsibility or our landlord's responsibility?

Yours. Basic house cleaning keeps moths at bay.


Extract from standard council pest control pages:

What attracts them?

Moths are attracted to woollen fabrics, and carpets stained with food, perspiration or urine.
How can I prevent an infestation?

• wash clothes regularly, and make sure they are clean before replacing them in cupboards and drawers - by doing this you should also reduce the risk of damage by moths
• woollen items should be sealed in plastic bags or stored in closed cupboards
• dispose of contaminated foodstuffs correctly, keeping all food waste tightly sealed in bags or bins
• thoroughly clean up any spilled foods and regularly clean storage cupboards

How do I get rid of them and stop them coming back?

You can treat your carpets with residual insecticides specifically made for this purpose and frequent use of the vacuum cleaner on your carpets should reduce the risk of infestation. You may find moth grub damage to carpets under heavy furniture, and spraying with the insecticide here every six months or so should help. Moth larvae cannot survive in bright lights, so you can air clothes, blankets and easily removable furnishings outside on a sunny day. Give them a good shake or brushing before you put them away again. Ideally we would recommend you seek professional help if you do have an infestation.

NEH

tbs624 wrote: »

Yours. Basic house cleaning keeps moths at bay.


Extract from standard council pest control pages:

What attracts them?

Moths are attracted to woollen fabrics, and carpets stained with food, perspiration or urine.
How can I prevent an infestation?

• wash clothes regularly, and make sure they are clean before replacing them in cupboards and drawers - by doing this you should also reduce the risk of damage by moths
• woollen items should be sealed in plastic bags or stored in closed cupboards
• dispose of contaminated foodstuffs correctly, keeping all food waste tightly sealed in bags or bins
• thoroughly clean up any spilled foods and regularly clean storage cupboards

How do I get rid of them and stop them coming back?

You can treat your carpets with residual insecticides specifically made for this purpose and frequent use of the vacuum cleaner on your carpets should reduce the risk of infestation. You may find moth grub damage to carpets under heavy furniture, and spraying with the insecticide here every six months or so should help. Moth larvae cannot survive in bright lights, so you can air clothes, blankets and easily removable furnishings outside on a sunny day. Give them a good shake or brushing before you put them away again. Ideally we would recommend you seek professional help if you do have an infestation.

I really can't understand that, as ours are closed cupboards and everything is washed frequently, i never put anything back in the built in wardrobes that is dirty.....My brother is the same and he has a cleaner, place has been cleaned from top to bottom, all his clothes are pristine clean.....:( Even things like winter woolies are washed throughy and put in suitcases and the rewashed when we get them out again.

In our case maybe it is the damp and the mould as it's attracting all manor of wildlife in this place...Either that or it is the strange tenant that was in before ours that basically lived out of one room...