Pests and nuisance

If you have a pest control problem and wish to treat it yourself, the necessary materials to treat most pests, i.e. insecticides and rodenticides may be purchased from hardware stores, DIY outlets and garden centres.

When using these products you should ensure that you follow the instructions supplied and exercise great care to ensure that other animals, pets or children cannot get access to them.

Alternatively there are commercial service providers listed in Yellow Pages and similar publications who are able to offer suitable treatments.

The leaflets listed below are available for you to download. They contain detailed information on individual pest species, advice on treatment and prevention.

If you would prefer a hard copy, please contact the Council’s Contact Centre (Tel: 0845 9072244) and they will arrange for one to be posted to you.

Pests and the Law

We enforce the provisions of three Acts of Parliament which impose duties on owners and/or occupiers of premises/land regarding infestations. These are:

1. Section 83 Public Health Act 1936 which gives local authorities the power to require the owner or occupier of a property to clean verminous premises. “Vermin” is not precisely defined but includes insects and parasites, their eggs, larvae and pupae. In practice, vermin is taken to mean fleas, cockroaches and bedbugs, but could include other insects in extreme cases.

2. Section 4 of the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949 which gives local authorities the power to require the owner or occupier of land (but not agricultural land) to take steps for the destruction of rats or mice or keeping land free from rats and mice. The power extends to carrying out works in default and recovery of the costs incurred.

3. Section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended) extends the list of statutory nuisances to include “any insects emanating from relevant industrial trade or business premises and being prejudicial to health or a nuisance”.

It should be noted that this provision does not apply to insects from domestic premises and that some insects are excluded (see Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981).

You should also note that many types of land including arable, meadow, reed beds and woodlands are not classed as relevant land.

If you have concerns about issues of this nature, please contact us via the Contact Centre on 0845 9072244 or email enquiries@erewash.gov.uk.