A Surprise Visitor: Understanding Bats in the Home
Finding a bat in your living space can be alarming, especially if it’s flying around a bedroom at night or clinging to a curtain. It’s a more common experience than most homeowners realise. Bats often enter and re enter homes through open windows, gable vents, an open door, gaps around roof tiles and duct tape, or unsealed loft spaces, particularly during the warmer months when bats fly the most.
Before anything else, it’s important to know this: all bat species in the UK are legally protected. That single fact should shape everything a homeowner does next, from how the bat is handled to who gets called for help.
Here, we explain what to do if a bat finds its way into your home, why “bat pest control” isn’t a legal option in the UK, and where to turn for genuine expert advice.
I’ve Got a Bat in My Attic, What Do I Do?
If you’ve discovered a bat, or several bats, roosting in your loft space, the first thing to do is stay calm and avoid disturbing them. A bat roosting in your attic is not an emergency, and in most cases, it causes no harm to your home or health.
Do not attempt to block entry points, move insulation, or disturb the area where the bats live. Bat roosts are protected by law whether or not bats are present at the time, so interfering with the space itself to prevent bats from using it can be a criminal offence.
The right first step is to contact the National Bat Helpline, run by the Bat Conservation Trust. Their advisors can help you understand whether you have an established roost comprising many bats, whether the bats are likely to be a temporary presence, and what your options are if you’re planning any building work that might affect them.
The National Bat Helpline can also direct you to a local bat carer, provide further advice on most bat species and how to handle bats, as can a local vet.
A Bat Is Loose in My Living Space: What Now?
If a bat has found its way into a room rather than the loft, the approach is different but still requires patience rather than intervention. If you find bats and are wondering how to get them out of your house, here are the steps to take.
At night, keep the room calm and dimly lit. Close the door to the rest of the house, then leave a window open as wide as possible and clear any obstructions, such as curtains, from around it. A bat navigates by echolocation and will usually find its own way out of its own accord, once given a clear, quiet route.
During the day, if a bat isn’t flying, you may be seeing a sick or injured bat, or juvenile bats. In this case, avoid handling it directly. In the maternity season, baby bats may fall from maternity roosts and become disorientated. If you can’t avoid the need to handle bats, using a tea towel to cover them can be helpful and always wear thick gloves rather than using your bare hands for direct contact as a small number of UK bats can carry a rabies-related virus. Anyone bitten or scratched should wash the area with soap and water and seek medical advice.
Why “Bat Removal” and “Bat Pest Control” Aren’t What They Sound Like
A quick search for how to remove bats, bat removal or bat pest control services might suggest there’s a straightforward fix to remove bats or an unwanted roost. In the UK, robust bat conservation laws meant that there isn’t.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, it’s an offence to deliberately capture, injure, or disturb a bat, or to damage or destroy a bat roost, regardless of whether bats are present at the time. This means genuine pest control in the traditional sense, trapping, deterring, or excluding bats to get rid of them, isn’t legally available in the UK, no matter how persistent the issue feels.
Seek Advice from Professionals
Deterrent devices, including ultrasonic gadgets marketed for this purpose, can also breach the law if they disturb roosting bats, and their effectiveness is unproven regardless.
The correct route is always to seek advice from the Bat Conservation Trust or ecologists rather than bat removal. In the majority of cases, once the initial concern is addressed, both you and the bats should be able to coexist if a small roost is involved that causes no ongoing disruption to a household.
When Bats Become a Genuine Nuisance
Occasionally, bats enter a living area on a regular basis, which isn’t a normal part of having a roost nearby. If this is happening repeatedly, it often points to an access point that has shifted, sometimes as a result of recent roofing or building work, allowing bats to find their way into the house itself rather than staying within the roost space.
In these cases, the right step is to seek advice from your Statutory Nature Conservation Organisation or a licensed ecologist, who can assess how bats are entering the property and identify a lawful solution that restores their intended access point without disturbing the roost.
What This Means If You’re Planning Building Work
For many homeowners and developers alike, the presence of bats becomes most relevant when building work is on the horizon. Roof repairs, loft conversions, re-roofing, new window sills and even soffit or fascia replacement can all affect bat roosts, sometimes without the property owner realising bats were present at all.
If bats or evidence of a roost, such as droppings or staining near roof gaps, are found before or during works, it will bring work immediately to a stop. A licensed bat survey may be required before work can proceed. Disturbing a roost without the correct licence, even inadvertently, can result in enforcement action, project delays, and significant additional cost.
Managing Bats Correctly: Expert Advice
As a licensed ecological consultancy, Arbtech supports homeowners and developers who need bat surveys ahead of building work, roof repairs, or planning applications. Consultants can advise on the timings of bat surveys: the bat survey season is between early summer, typically May, and mid August. Bats’ breeding season is during spring and summer and female bats gather in maternity roosts in May.
Our ecologists assess properties for evidence of roosting bats, and can offer advice on the correct licensing route where needed and help ensure that projects can proceed lawfully without unnecessary delay.
If you suspect bats are present in a property you’re planning to renovate, extend, or develop, getting the right survey in place early is the best way to comply with bat conservation laws and protect your project timeline. Contact us for a quote.
