Domestic Rodent Treatments - Terms and Conditions

Below are the terms and conditions for using the Charnwood Borough Council pest control service for domestic rodent treatments. You are advised to read them thoroughly before requesting a pest control treatment.

Pest identification

For further information on the pests that may be present in your home or garden then you are advised to have a look at the BPCA website below or any other suitable websites.

https://bpca.org.uk/pest-advice/domestic

We can only treat the pests listed on our website. The pest control officer must be able to confirm a pests’ presence before they can start any treatment. This is in accordance with the Codes of Practice on the Safe Use of Rodenticides and rodenticide product labels. They cannot just rely on your word that a rat or mouse is there, they need to confirm this. For this reason, you are advised to keep any evidence of rat and mouse activity undisturbed, wherever possible. This will assist the pest control officer in identifying what is causing the problem, but also how effectively they can deal with it. If this cannot be left, then you are advised to take photographs and bag any droppings etc. for the pest control officer to see when they visit.

Self-Treatment

As this is a charged service, we understand that some residents may wish to treat themselves before calling us in to help if you have been unsuccessful.

If you do this, could you please ensure that you read the product labels carefully and follow the instructions. If you do request our service after you have used rodenticides, we do ask that there is a two week gap between your last use of rodenticides and our visit. This is because we need a baseline of activity to assess if we are being successful in what we are doing and to try and identify the source of the problem. Otherwise, the initial first few weeks the picture will be unclear due to the rodenticides that have been used previously.

You can continue with the use of traps before our visit, but not rodenticides.

Cost and payment including potential additional revisit charges

The initial cost of a rat or mouse treatment is £65 for up to 4 visits unless the main occupier is in receipt of a specified benefit (see below).

You must pay the full amount by credit or debit card at the time of booking online.

If you are unable to complete an online request or if there are any issues, then please contact env.health@charnwood.gov.uk or phone 01509 634628.

There is no way of knowing, how many visits it will take to resolve your pest infestation.

If the Pest Control Officer deems that the infestation has been dealt with before all 4 visits have been carried out, they will discuss this with you and then will close the service request – there will be no refund for any of the 4 visits not carried out. However, if you contact within 4 weeks as the pest has returned, we will continue with the previous service request and carry out any visits remaining.

If after 4 visits, the infestation is still ongoing then further revisits can be carried out at £16.20 per visit. This is reduced to £8.10 per revisit for rat externals, where you are in receipt of a specified benefit. The Pest Control Officer will discuss this with you, and you will need to agree to the further visits being carried out. The payment will need to be made before the next visit. You will be provided with a link to do this.

The pest control officer will discuss the need for a revisit with you and will only recommend when there is a need to do so in their professional opinion. You can stop the treatment at any time, although you are advised not to due to the risk of the infestation getting worse if it is not addressed.

Specified Income Related Benefits

Internal domestic rodent treatments are offered free of charge where the main occupier is in receipt of a specified income related benefits. External rat treatments are offered to those in receipt of a specified benefit at a 50% reduction £32.50.

The following benefits are included:

• Housing Benefit (This is being replaced by Universal Credit)
• Council Tax Reduction (Council Tax Support)
• Income Support (This is being replaced by Universal Credit)
• Pension Credits
• Jobseekers Allowance – Income Based (JSA-IB) (This is being replaced by Universal Credit)
• Employment and Support Allowance – Income Related (ESA-IR)
• Universal Credits

We will not except any other benefits for the discounted pest control rate.

If you wish to use this service free of charge or at the discounted rate for rate for rats external, then you will need to provide proof of the specified benefit, that you are in receipt of at the time of the booking. This will need to be a download, scanned copy or a screen shot confirming the benefit that you are in receipt of and include your name and address.

If there are any problems uploading the proof of benefit on the online form, then please contact env.health@charnwood.gov.uk. Any booking will not be made until this has been received.

Preparing for your visit

If you are experiencing a problem, it is more than likely that your neighbours are too. Before the visit you are advised to speak to your neighbours to see if they are also experiencing any problems. Occasionally the pest control officer may wish to visit the neighbouring property as part of your treatment anyway and they will offer a survey visit free of charge, if they consider it necessary for your treatment and the neighbours allow access. The pest control officer cannot require access if your neighbour refuses. If there is evidence that the neighbouring property may be contributing to the problem and they do not allow access or take any appropriate action themselves, then then this would need to be referred to another team for investigation and follow-up.

Visits

You will either be offered a morning or an afternoon slot on a weekday. The visits will generally be made on the same weekday and session, we will try and accommodate any changes, but this might not always be possible. So please ensure that an appropriate adult is available for the first and subsequent visits.

We do not offer timed appointments, and the visits will occur either between 9.30 and 12.30 or 1.30 and 4.30pm.

The Charnwood Borough is split into two for the purposes of pest control visits:

• All other villages, south of Loughborough
• Loughborough, Shepshed and Hathern.

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9.30 and 12.30	All other villages, south of Loughborough	Loughborough, Shepshed and Hathern	All other villages, south of Loughborough	Loughborough, Shepshed and Hathern	All other villages, south of Loughborough
1.30 and 4.30pm	Loughborough, Shepshed and Hathern	All other villages, south of Loughborough	Loughborough, Shepshed and Hathern	All other villages, south of Loughborough	Loughborough, Shepshed and Hathern

A person who lives at the property and is over 18 years old must be in whilst the visit takes place.

The pest control officer will arrive in a Charnwood Borough Council identifiable van, with no reference to pest control on it. They will also have photo ID on them that they will be able to show you.

They will investigate the problem and try to confirm the presence of rodents and start treatment, if applicable.

We can only treat the pest problem you have booked us for and once we have confirmed their presence. If we are unable to confirm a current rat or mice infestation, then the pest control officer may decide to carry out an identification visit using non-toxic monitoring bait and / or cameras before any treatment takes place.

If rats or mice are not identified, or if it turns out to be something that we do not offer a service for e.g. birds then if you have paid for the treatment you will be charged a £25.20 visit charge and refund of £39.80 if paid in full, or a visit charge of £12.60 and refunded £19.90 if in receipt of a specified benefit. This is because we have a call out /advisory visit charge of £25.20, or £12.60 (receipt of a specified benefit) for any charged pest control treatment. 

Once rats or mice have been identified then we will discuss the treatment options available to you. We generally use rodenticides for the treatment of rats and mice. We may also use traps for mice.

You must abide by any safety instructions given to you. You must not touch or move any of the baiting locations. You must also inform us of the presence of any children, vulnerable adults or pets that may interfere with any baiting location.

We do not accept responsibility for loss, damage or injury to any pets, goods or equipment unless it was caused by our negligence.

Council Tenants / Private Landlord Tenants

In line with your tenancy agreement, it is likely that you will be responsible for pest control treatments at your property and will need to pay for the treatment, if applicable. However, if there are proofing issues that may be contributing to the current infestation then these will need to be addressed and you will need to refer these to your landlord.

Unboarded Lofts

Due to health and safety reasons our pest control officers are unable to access lofts that are not boarded. We can still however try and identify what is causing the noises from the area surrounding the loft hatch and we can use monitoring bait or camera to assist in this.

Cameras

We may use wildlife cameras to take photos or short videos or rodent activity particularly in your loft space to try and identify what the problem may be. These will only be installed with your agreement and they only take images, not audio.

Information Sheet

You will be left with an information sheet at the time of the visit detailing any rodenticide used and the action to be taken in an emergency.

Revisits

When using rodenticides then the pest control officer will need to revisit on the following frequencies:

• Visit 2 - After 7 days
• Visit 3 - After a further 2 weeks
• Visit 4 - After a further 2 weeks, etc.

For mice, this may increase to weekly visits depending on the rodenticide that we use.

When using traps, the revisit frequency will be every 3-4 days. Although the pest control officer may be able to discuss with your options of checking these yourselves or other longer term solutions.

An adult must be present during all revisits.

Rodent Bodies

If you come across a dead rodent during the treatment, please double bag and place in your refuse bin.

The pest control officer will remove any that are retrievable during their visit (we will not lift floorboards etc), but more than likely the bodies are not found. Occasionally there may be an odour and flies associated with a dead rodent that cannot be found in a property, the advice is to open windows, use air fresheners and a flying insect spray until it stops.

Appointment Reminder Text

You will receive a reminder text the day before each visit, please do not reply to this text. If you need to contact the office on 01509 634628 or by emailing env.health@charnwood.gov.uk.

Change the date of a visit

You can change the date of your visit by emailing env.health@charnwood.gov.uk or phoning us on 01509 634628.

You must change your booking by 4pm the day before your visit is due to take place. After 4pm you will need to cancel your visit instead and this will count as a visit and you will not be entitled to a refund.

Although we may not always be able to stick to the revisits times prescribed, we will make all reasonable attempts to do this and we would appreciate your co-operation.

Cancelling a visit

You can cancel your appointment by emailing env.health@charnwood.gov.uk or by phoning us on 01509 634628.

You must cancel your booking by 4pm the day before your visit is due to take place. If you do it later than this or are not in when we arrive, then that visit will be classed as a charged visit, if applicable.

Cancelling the Treatment

You can cancel the treatment before the first visit by emailing env.health@charnwood.gov.uk or by phoning 01509 634628. If we are notified by 4pm the day before the first visit, then you will receive a full refund of any charge.

If you cancel after 4pm the day before the first visit, then you will be charged the visit charge of £25.20 and refunded £39.80 if paid in full, or a charge of £12.60 and refund of £19.90, if in receipt of a specified benefit for a rat external service request.

You can cancel a treatment at any time, but if you wish to cancel during a treatment then you will not receive a refund. A further visit will need to take place to remove any baiting locations (this is a legal requirement). We are not allowed to leave any rodenticide with you following a treatment, unless it is in a location that we are unable to retrieve.

If the visit cannot go ahead

You will still be charged for a visit that cannot go ahead because:

• you or another person who lives at the property (who must be over 18 years old) is not in when we arrive
• the door is not answered
• you do not allow us to carry out the treatment
• you have not completed the recommendations given to you at our last visit

If any of these reasons for a visit not being carried out occur on two or more occasions, then we may decide to end the treatment.

If we cannot attend

If we are delayed by an event outside of our control, we’ll contact you as soon as possible to let you know and take all the steps possible to minimise the delay.

We'll speak with you to arrange the next best possible date for us to visit if we’re unable to attend a visit due to:

• bad weather
• staff sickness
• travel problems

Recommendations

You must carry out any recommendations that the pest control officer makes during the treatment process, if these are not carried out then we will review whether we are still able to treat at your property.

Our pest control officer do not carry out any proofing works or dismantle anything for access. Alternative arrangements will need to be made.

Is eradication guaranteed?

No, unfortunately we cannot guarantee that the problem will be eradicated. The pest control officers will try their best to identify any possible entry points but, in some cases, they are not always visible. They may be on your property; an adjoining property; or due to a drainage fault that is not easy to identify. The pest control officer will work through the possible reasons with you and recommend action where appropriate to do so.

When the problem is possibly coming from elsewhere the pest control officers will assess this and pass on to any other relevant teams, when it is considered appropriate to do so.

If you still have a pest problem after treatment

If the pests return after the treatment has ended, you will need to contact us and if it is within 4 weeks of your last visit, we will continue with the treatment. If the service request is after 4 weeks, then it will be treated as a new service request and charged for a new block of 4 visits, if applicable.

Refunds

We’ll refund you if:

You have paid for a treatment and cancel it before 4pm the day before it's due to take place (full amount).

We do not carry out a treatment – The refund will be £39.80 if paid in full and £19.90 for rat externals for those in receipt of a specified benefit.

How we'll refund you

We'll refund you by the method you used for payment, for example if you paid by a debit card, we will arrange for the refund to be paid back to this card.

We’ll make refunds as soon as possible, but refunds must be made within 14 days of your request.

How we use your personal information

We’ll protect your personal information and use it in line with our Privacy Policy. We will share details of your treatment that has been carried out for enforcement purposes or when Charnwood Borough Council is the landlord.

Survey

You may be sent a customer satisfaction survey following the completion of your pest control treatment. We would appreciate your response.

Pest Control Team
Charnwood Borough Council
Southfield Road
Loughborough
LE11 2TX

Telephone: 01509 634628

Email: env.health@charnwood.gov.uk