Pest control in Hertfordshire

Our treatments start from £90, and the inspection beforehand is free, so you know the full cost before any work begins. The final figure depends on the pest, the size of the property and how many visits it needs: one wasp nest sits near the bottom, a bed bug infestation in a house share near the top. For comparison, Welwyn Hatfield's council charges £59.02 for rats or mice, but only for homes in that borough.

Probably not: none of the three councils around St Albans offers a free service to everyone. St Albans, which includes Harpenden, has no service at all; Watford treats residents on means-tested benefits only; Welwyn Hatfield charges, with lower prices for many claimants. Other districts set their own rules, so check the council for your postcode. Districts keep legal powers too: they can clear rats from council land and order owners of neglected property to act.

In England the landlord usually pays when pests get in because of the building, such as a cracked drain, missing airbrick grilles or unsealed pipe runs. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 requires rented homes to be fit to live in, and pests are one of the hazards councils assess under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. Tenants generally pay when they brought the problem in, for example fleas from a pet or bed bugs from second-hand furniture.

Late summer and autumn keep us busiest: wasp nests peak from July to September, and rats and mice push indoors once the weather turns in October. Spring brings queen wasps scouting sheds and eaves, while glis glis wake from hibernation around May and are loudest in lofts through the summer. Rats beside the rivers and the canal never really take a season off, especially where people feed ducks or leave compost open.

Pick a firm that works to BPCA or NPTA standards and whose technicians carry RSPH Level 2; Watford's council points residents to exactly those registers. Ask for a written quote before any work starts, a guarantee on paper, an address in the area you could call at, and reviews posted in recent months. Be wary of anyone who names a firm price over the phone for a problem nobody has looked at yet.

Often, yes: we book same-day visits whenever the diary allows, which gets harder in the peak wasp weeks, and the 24/7 line is answered at night and at weekends. We treat as urgent a nest beside a doorway or pram, a rat inside a kitchen or bedroom, and pests in a food business facing an inspection. For towns without their own page here, give your postcode first and we'll tell you plainly whether we can reach you in time.

Glis glis, or edible dormice, were released at Tring Park by Walter Rothschild in 1902 and have since spread through the Chilterns woods. Houses around Tring, Berkhamsted and the western edge of Hertfordshire get them in roof spaces. They sleep from September to May, then gnaw wiring, joists and stored boxes and keep families awake on summer nights. Wildlife law limits how they can be caught and bans releasing them, so we inspect first and explain the proofing and control options.