How to Verify a Pest Control License in Virginia

Short answer: pest control companies in Virginia are licensed by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) through its Office of Pesticide Services. A pesticide business license is required for any person or business that, for compensation, sells, stores, distributes, mixes, applies or recommends pesticides. Each business location needs its own license, and each licensed business must employ a certified applicator. VDACS posts a Virginia Licensed Pesticide Businesses report and a Certified Commercial Applicator report on its online services site.

This guide explains what the license means, which certification categories cover rodent work, how to check a company and what Virginia and federal rules say about rodenticides.

The pesticide business license

According to VDACS, a pesticide business license:

• Is required for any person or business operating in Virginia which, in exchange for compensation, sells, stores, distributes, mixes, applies or recommends pesticides.
• Is required separately for each business location.
• Is separate from and in addition to any other local business license.
• Requires a certificate of insurance showing at least $100,000 for property damage, $100,000 for personal injury to or death of one person, and $300,000 per occurrence.
• Requires the applicant or an employee to pass a written exam, unless the applicant or employee is a certified commercial applicator.
• Expires on March 31 every year and must be renewed.

Licensed businesses must keep written records for two years of any pesticide applied commercially, maintain the required insurance, employ a certified applicator who is responsible for safe application or recommendations, and notify VDACS of changes in name, address, insurance or assigned applicators.

A provider that uses only traps and sealing may not apply pesticides at all, but most rodent providers use bait at least some of the time. Ask.

Applicator certification and categories

The people who apply pesticides are certified separately from the business license. Virginia's regulations (2VAC5-685) set up categories for commercial applicators. For rodent work, these matter:

• Category 7a, General pest control: for commercial applicators using or supervising the use of pesticides to control household type pests, pests that inhabit or infest structures, stored products and residential food preparation areas, and pests in food processing facilities. Virginia Tech's pesticide programs note that this category includes control of vertebrate structural invaders, which covers rats and mice in buildings.
• Category 7d, Vertebrate pest control: for using or supervising the use of pesticides to control vertebrate pest animals, excluding structural invaders.
• Category 8, Public health pest control: for pests of medical and public health significance.

Registered technicians are certified in Category 60, the designation given to all registered technicians regardless of the category they are trained in. So the technician at your door may be a registered technician working under a business that employs a certified commercial applicator.

Ask any provider which categories their certified applicator holds and whether the technician coming to your home is a registered technician or a certified applicator.

How to check a company

VDACS posts public reports on its online services site:

• Virginia Licensed Pesticide Businesses Report, a downloadable file of licensed businesses.
• Certified Commercial Applicator Report, a downloadable file of certified commercial applicators.

Open the file in a spreadsheet program and search for the company name or the applicator's name. If you cannot find the company, ask it for its license number and the name of its certified applicator, then search again. VDACS also offers a pesticide civil penalty search from its pesticides page.

A few more checks help:

• Ask for a certificate of insurance. The business license requires coverage, so a licensed company should be able to show it.
• Ask for the label or product name of any rodenticide it plans to use.
• Get the plan and price in writing.

Remember that our site does not license or vet providers. Your call goes to an independent provider, and it is up to you to verify the license and insurance before work starts.

What can get a license revoked

Virginia Code section 3.2-3940 lets the state's pesticide board deny, suspend, modify or revoke a license, after an opportunity for a hearing, for violations that include:

• Making false or fraudulent claims through any media that misrepresent the effect of materials or methods.
• Making a pesticide recommendation inconsistent with the registered label.
• Acting as a pesticide business with negligence, incompetence or misconduct.
• Making false or fraudulent records, invoices or reports.

That list is a useful reminder of what to expect from a provider: honest claims, label-consistent use and accurate paperwork.

Rodenticide rules in Virginia

Two layers of rules apply to rat and mouse poison in Virginia.

State law

Virginia Code section 3.2-3939 makes it unlawful for any person to use or cause to be used any pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling or the board's regulations. That applies to homeowners as well as professionals. Read and follow the label.

Federal restrictions on consumer products

The US Environmental Protection Agency restricts which rodenticides can be sold to consumers. According to the EPA:

• Consumer rodenticide products must be ready-to-use bait stations containing bait in block or paste form. Pelleted baits are no longer permitted in products for the consumer market.
• Second-generation anticoagulants, which include brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum and difethialone, are no longer registered for consumer products and are limited to the commercial and structural pest control markets. The EPA notes these compounds stay in animal tissue longer, which raises risk to nontarget animals.
• Active ingredients in consumer products for mice and rats are bromethalin, chlorophacinone and diphacinone.
• Consumer products are labeled for indoor use only, or for indoor use and outdoor use within 50 feet of buildings.

Food businesses

Under the Virginia Food Regulations, rodent bait in a food establishment must be in a covered, tamper-resistant bait station, and tracking powder pesticides are not allowed. See our restaurant guide.

If you have pets, children or wildlife you care about, ask a provider whether traps can do the job before bait is used, and where any stations will go.

Questions to ask before you hire

• What is your Virginia pesticide business license number, and who is your certified applicator?
• Is the technician coming to my home a certified applicator or a registered technician?
• What products will you use, and where? Can I see the labels?
• Will you seal entry points, and with what materials?
• How many return visits are included?
• Can I get the plan and price in writing before work starts?

The call checklist on our homepage has a short version of these questions to keep by the phone.

Questions people ask

Related reading

• Rodent control cost in Richmond
• Restaurant rodent violations
• Best rat and mouse traps
• Commercial rodent control