Secondhand furniture: what to check before it enters your home

Secondhand furniture is one of the great bargains of domestic life — and one of the great pest-and-safety vectors. The same object can be a £400 wardrobe for £40 or a bed-bug delivery, a tip-over hazard, or a fire-safety gamble. The difference isn't luck; it's a five-minute inspection that most people skip because the seller is standing right there. This page gives you permission to be that person.

Risk one: bed bugs — the inspection that matters

Upholstered furniture is the classic bed-bug vehicle, and the inspection is physical: seams, piping, the dust cover underneath, screw holes, and any joint where fabric meets frame. You're looking for the evidence trail — small dark faecal spots that smear, shed skins, eggs (tiny, pale, rice-shaped) — not the bugs themselves, which hide. A torch and a credit card to run along seams. Any doubt at all: walk away, no matter the price, especially if the price is free. Mattresses and beds are the highest-risk category in existence — the moving-guide rule applies doubly: no secondhand mattresses, full stop, no exceptions at any price.

Risk two: fire safety — the label check (UK)

UK law requires upholstered furniture sold new to meet fire-resistance standards, marked with a permanent label. Secondhand goods don't have to comply when resold — which makes the label the buyer's only evidence. No permanent fire label on a sofa, armchair or mattress: you're buying pre-regulation foam, and the honest move is to decline it. It's also the one check sellers respect instantly when you explain it.

Risks three and four: structure and recalls

Structure: open and close every drawer (runners and joints tell the truth), sit on it with your full weight, rock it, check the legs and the wall fixings — and for anything tall, know the tip-over reality: furniture and TVs falling onto children are a persistent injury statistic, and secondhand dressers often lack the anti-tip straps modern ones ship with (cheap to add; add them). Recalls: a quick search of the brand and product before buying catches the known-dangerous items — cots, high chairs and anything child-adjacent especially, because safety standards moved on and old doesn't mean fine.

The protocol, pocket-sized

Inspect in daylight, in person, before paying. Bed bugs: seams, under-cover, joints, torch. Fire label: present and legible. Structure: drawers, weight, rock, wobble. Recalls: one search. Bring: a torch, a tape measure (the doorway at home is the real final inspection), and the willingness to walk away — which is the entire superpower of buying secondhand: the one you leave behind costs you nothing, including its bugs (and if something slipped through, the 48-hour protocol catches it early).

Sources: US EPA bed-bug precautions with secondhand furniture; UK furniture fire-safety labelling regulations. Reviewed September 2026 · general information.