Bed Bugs and Ohio State Move-In: What to Check

This guide is for Ohio State students and parents renting off campus in the University District, Old North, the Short North or nearby. It covers what to look at before you sign and on move-in day, how to handle used furniture, and what to do if you find bugs in the first week. For treatment itself, see our bed bug treatment page.

Why move-in season matters

The neighborhoods around campus are mostly rentals. In ZIP 43201, which covers much of the University District and the Short North, 83% of occupied homes are renter occupied, per Census ACS 2020 to 2024 estimates. Citywide the figure is 56%. A lot of those leases end and start in the same few weeks.

Ohio State's off-campus office says many students move in and out through July and August. For 2026, the City of Columbus, Ohio State Student Life and the University District Organization set up nearly 50 temporary drop-off sites for trash and bulk items from July 24 to August 11. That is a lot of mattresses and couches changing hands in a short window.

Bed bugs ride along. Ohio State University Extension's bed bug fact sheet says they spread mainly in luggage and furniture, along with clothing and bedding, and move between rooms and adjoining units in multi-unit buildings. Columbus 311 data shows the pattern. Bed bug requests run all year but are highest from August to October, at about 230 to 250 a month.

Bed bug requests to Columbus 311 by month (item pickups and code complaints)

In 2024 and 2025, Columbus residents requested 2,201 special refuse pickups of bed bug items. Details are on our Columbus pest data page.

Before you sign the lease

You usually tour a campus rental while someone else still lives there. That is useful, because their bed is right there. Things I would do on a tour:

• Look at the mattress seams and the bed frame joints in each bedroom, with the tenant's permission. You are looking for rusty or dark spots, pale shed skins and small brown bugs.
• Look along the baseboards next to the beds and at the couch seams.
• Ask the landlord by email or text whether the unit or building has been treated for bed bugs in the past year. Keep the answer.
• Read the lease for any pest or bed bug clause, and note who it says pays for treatment.

Ohio State offers help with that last step. Student Legal Services reviews leases with students and explains their rights under Ohio law. Its office is at 20 E. 11th Ave., and it takes appointments by phone at 614-247-5853. The Willie J. Young, Sr. Off-Campus and Commuter Student Engagement office offers housing consultations and runs the Off-Campus Housing Network, a list of landlords who agree to the university's criteria. Neither page mentions pests, so do not expect them to treat or inspect for bed bugs. They can help you read a lease before you sign it.

Move-in day

Do the check again with the unit empty. It takes about 15 minutes.

1. Before you carry anything in, walk each bedroom with a flashlight. Check the baseboards and outlet covers, then window frames and any furniture the landlord left. OSU lists all of these as hiding spots.
2. Take dated photos of every room, including anything you find. If there is a problem, send them to the landlord in writing that day.
3. Set the bed up a few inches from the wall and put interceptor cups under each leg. These catch bugs climbing up and give you early proof if they are there.
4. If you are coming from a summer sublet or a long trip, run your clothes and bedding through a dryer on high heat for 30 minutes. The National Pesticide Information Center says that kills all stages, eggs included.
5. Put a zippered encasement on the mattress and box spring. It traps any bugs inside and makes later inspection easy.

Used furniture and curb finds

I would not bring home a couch or mattress from a campus curb in August. The furniture on the curb during move-out week is there because someone did not want it, and you cannot tell why. Upholstered pieces have the most places for bed bugs to hide.

If you buy used, prefer hard furniture you can inspect, such as wood or metal bed frames and desks. Look in the joints and screw holes. EPA tells people who throw out an infested mattress to slash it or mark it "Bed Bugs" so nobody takes it, which tells you what a slashed or marked piece on the curb means.

When you move out, do the same for the next person. The city's Waste and Reuse Convenience Centers at 2100 Alum Creek Dr. and 1550 Georgesville Rd. take furniture and mattresses, according to Ohio State's move-out page. If your stuff has bed bugs, bag or wrap it and request a bed bug items pickup through Columbus 311 instead of leaving it in the alley.

Not sure what you found? A clear photo of the bug next to a coin is the fastest way to find out.

The first week

Check the interceptors every few days for the first two weeks. Look at your sheets and the mattress seams when you change the bed. If you wake up with bites, do not assume bed bugs. OSU says bites alone are not proof, and plenty of other things bite or itch. Look for the bugs or their spots.

If you find them:

• Tell the landlord in writing right away. Include photos and your move-in date. A problem you report in week one is hard to blame on you.
• Do not set off a fogger. OSU says foggers do not reach where bed bugs hide and generally do not kill them even on contact. In an apartment, scattering bugs into the walls can spread them to the next unit.
• Do not move to the couch or a roommate's room. That spreads them through the house.
• Keep the bed pulled from the wall with interceptors under the legs, and dry bedding on high heat.

Ask the landlord to have a licensed company inspect. If you want a written inspection result of your own, you can ask for that too.

Who pays near campus

It depends on the building and the lease, but here is the frame. Ohio's landlord-tenant law, ORC 5321.04, requires a landlord to keep a rental fit and habitable and to follow the housing codes. The Columbus housing code splits pest elimination by building type. Section 4551.01(f) makes the owner responsible in a dwelling with two or more units. Section 4551.02(f) makes the occupant responsible in a single-family house, or in a multi-unit building when only that occupant's unit is infested.

That matters near campus, where a lot of students rent whole houses. In a single-family rental, the city code puts pest elimination on you. State law and your lease still matter, so read our renters guide before you agree to pay for anything.

One more point students often get wrong. The Ohio rent deposit process in ORC 5321.07 excludes a "student tenant," but ORC 5321.01(H) defines that as someone living in housing owned or operated by their own college or university. A private landlord on East 13th Avenue is not that. If you rent from a private landlord, the process can apply to you, subject to its other exceptions. Talk to Student Legal Services before you use it.

Students and parents in the area may also want our Short North page. If you see roaches along with bed bugs, our cockroach page covers them.