Structural pest control licensing
Is your exterminator licensed in Delaware?
Delaware runs TWO separate lookups and the business one, linked here, is the one you want; individuals are at kellysolutions.com/de/Applicators/. Three unusually strong checks. First, DOORSTEP: businesses licensed for general pest control, health-related, industrial, ornamental and turf, fumigation and other categories must identify their service vehicles with the COMPANY NAME AND LICENSE NUMBER in bold, readable figures — so look at the van. Second, MONEY: a Delaware pesticide business license holder must submit a surety bond or a liability insurance policy, so there is something behind a claim if treatment goes wrong. Third, SCOPE: Delaware law reaches anyone applying restricted-use OR GENERAL pesticides to another person's property — the general-use loophole other states leave open is closed here, and every employee applying pesticides must be registered and have completed a training program. The state's own advice to residents is to ask for business license information before hiring. Certification runs one year, so check the date. Pesticide Management Section: 302-698-4571. Statute: Del. Code tit. 3 ch. 12. Kelly Registration Systems is a private company mirroring state licensing data for 33 departments of agriculture; treat a result as a convenience copy rather than the authoritative register, and call the state agency if anything looks wrong or missing.
- Who regulates it
- DDA / Kelly
- Verification
- Online
- Check before paying
- The business license
The regulator
The credential to look for
Open the official Delaware search →
Renting in Delaware? Before you pay for treatment, check whether your landlord is legally responsible for the cost. Delaware bed bug law →
What to verify, in order
The business license, not just the technician
Most states license the company and certify the individual separately. A certified technician working for an unlicensed business is still an unlicensed job.
The category or phase covers structural work
Licenses are issued by category. An applicator certified for turf and ornamental has no business in your bedroom.
Status is active, not lapsed
Some state databases exclude cancelled licenses from results entirely, so a revoked company returns the same empty result as a typo. If you get nothing, phone the agency before assuming you mistyped.
Complaint and enforcement history
Where a state publishes disciplinary actions they are usually on the board site rather than inside the license search.
Link last confirmed: . State license portals migrate often and licenses lapse daily — treat anything older than a few months as a starting point, not an answer.
Always confirm on the state's own site. This page points at the official database; it does not mirror or cache license records. Status changes daily and only the issuing agency is authoritative.