Mice near you

In England, section 1 of the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022 came into force on 31 July 2024. It makes it an offence to set a glue trap in England for the purpose of catching a rodent, and a separate offence to set one in a manner giving rise to a risk that a rodent will become caught, unless it is set under and in accordance with a glue trap licence. Knowingly causing or permitting either offence is also an offence. There is even an offence of finding a glue trap set in a way that risks catching a rodent and, without reasonable excuse, failing to make it safe. The Act defines a glue trap as one designed or capable of being used to catch a rodent using an adhesive substance as a means of capture, and the main offences carry imprisonment of up to 51 weeks or a fine, or both, on summary conviction.

Wales went further and earlier. Section 46 of the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023 inserted new prohibitions into section 11(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 covering both snares and glue traps, so that setting in position in Wales any glue trap likely to catch an animal, or using one to kill or take any animal, is caught. For the glue trap provisions, an animal means a vertebrate other than a human. Those provisions came into force on 17 October 2023.

Scotland's regime is the widest of the three. Under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 it is an offence, without reasonable excuse, to use a glue trap to kill or take any animal other than an invertebrate, to supply or offer to supply a glue trap, and to possess one. Those offences carry up to 12 months and a fine of up to £40,000 on summary conviction, and up to five years and an unlimited fine on indictment, and they came into force on 1 July 2026. Northern Ireland is a separate jurisdiction again and should be checked rather than assumed.

England's ban is not absolute, but the exception is narrow enough that it should settle the question for a domestic customer. Natural England issues glue trap licences, and only to professional pest controllers — defined as someone providing a pest control service for a public authority or as part of a business — for use in exceptional circumstances where all other methods of rodent control have failed or are not practical. Applicants must hold one of a list of recognised pest management qualifications and complete specific glue trap training.

The permitted settings are the point. The class licence covers three indoor scenarios only: aircraft, hospital operating rooms, and critical infrastructure sites facing imminent fire or equipment failure. The individual licence route requires a large-scale risk to public health and safety at places such as hospitals, food manufacturing sites or laboratories, and it expressly excludes restaurants, pubs, takeaways and private residences.

So if a contractor proposes glue boards in an English house or flat, there is no licence that covers it, and GOV.UK's pest control advice lists glue traps designed to catch rodents among the methods that must not be used for any wildlife, alongside self-locking snares, bows and crossbows and live decoys. The right response is to ask for a different method, and the fact that the question had to be asked is information about the firm.

Mouse control that lasts starts with a survey of the building envelope rather than with a product. Mice enter at the places a building is not continuous: where service pipes and cables pass through external walls, at damaged or unmeshed airbricks, under doors with a worn threshold, at the eaves, and wherever an extension meets the original structure. Inside, they travel through the same voids, which is why mice can appear in an upstairs bedroom without ever crossing a hallway.

Proofing is the durable half of the work and it is physical: sealing pipe penetrations with material a mouse cannot gnaw, meshing airbricks rather than blocking them so the underfloor void keeps its ventilation, fitting bristle strips to doors, and closing gaps at eaves and service entries. Expanding foam on its own is not proofing, because mice chew through it; it is filler around a physical barrier.

Trapping or baiting then clears the population that is already inside, and it is a short programme rather than a standing arrangement. Traps should be placed against walls and at right angles to the run, because mice travel along edges rather than across open floor, and they need checking. Bait, if used, is secured and removed at the end. And the food source has to go at the same time, because a mouse with a torn cereal packet behind the units has no reason to visit a trap.

With mice the quotation usually splits into two parts, and it is worth seeing them separately. The treatment side is driven by the size of the property, how many rooms show activity, how many visits are needed and how accessible the voids and runs are. The proofing side is driven by the construction: how many service penetrations there are, whether airbricks and eaves need work, whether a suspended floor void can be reached, and whether an extension or a recent alteration has left an obvious gap. Properties in a terrace or a block are harder again, because a neighbouring dwelling may be feeding the problem.

LokalMatch's role is to put you in touch. Describe the job once with your postcode — where you hear them, what you have found and whether the property is detached, terraced or a flat — and firms covering your area contact you. Homeowners are not charged anything to use it, and the pros pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not carry out the work, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend anyone who gets in touch, so checking that the quotation includes proofing, and that no one is proposing glue boards, remains your side of it.