For Australians, termites are a well-known household risk, and a timber pest inspection is a normal step when you buy a house. New Zealanders usually arrive with a very different picture: termites are a biosecurity story back home, not a daily worry. Either way, Dubai pest control works differently from what you are used to, and a few things are worth knowing before your first summer here.
What Australians already know about termites
Standards Australia notes that Australia has about 350 termite species, and about 30 of them have reached pest status. Its termite management standard explains that colonies usually start outside and enter a building through the ground.
That is why Australian homes are built and inspected to written standards:
- AS 3660.1 covers termite management in new building work.
- AS 3660.2 covers detecting and managing termites in and around existing buildings.
- AS 4349.3 sets the minimum requirements for visual timber pest inspections and the reports that follow. Buyers, owners and building consultants all use it.
If you have read a timber pest report before buying a home in Sydney, Brisbane or Perth, you already know what a good inspection looks like. Hold on to that expectation.
How pest control is regulated in Australia
Licensing is state by state. In Queensland, for example, anyone applying pesticides or fumigants for paying clients needs a licence from Queensland Health, with endorsements such as urban pest control and timber pest control. The Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association (AEPMA) says pest technicians are licensed in each state and territory.
AEPMA itself was founded in 1988 as a national body for professional pest managers. It publishes a Code of Practice and runs an accreditation scheme called PestCert. If you expect a licensed technician, a written report and a code to measure a company against, those are reasonable things to ask for here too.
What New Zealanders know: far fewer termites
New Zealand has three native termite species, and they are rarely a household worry. The bigger story is biosecurity. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) reports that some Auckland houses were found infested with Australian subterranean termites in 2021, and that the houses were treated and monitoring continues.
The industry body is the Pest Management Association of New Zealand (PMANZ), formed in 1976. Its Find a Professional tool lets you search by pest, region, and residential or commercial work, so New Zealanders are used to looking up a pest manager by region. Dubai is a bigger shift: termites, cockroaches and mosquitoes are all part of ordinary home maintenance here.
What is different in Dubai
Termites live in the ground here too. A 2005 survey recorded six termite species in the UAE, all subterranean, reaching wood through earthen galleries, and all six were present in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. That is the same way ground-nesting termites reach buildings in Australia. Villas with gardens and planters, such as those in Arabian Ranches or The Springs, are worth including in an inspection. If you are choosing a termite treatment, ask what the inspection covers, not just what is sprayed.
Check kitchens and drains all year. Dubai has no cold season to reset a problem, so kitchens, drains and bin areas are worth watching in apartments in Dubai Marina as much as in villas. See our cockroach control page.
Mosquitoes follow the water. Dubai Municipality advises residents to watch for leaks from taps, air conditioners and refrigerators, and to eliminate stagnant water in pools, plant containers and barrels. It has also treated drainage outlets itself after heavy rain. Our mosquito and fly control page covers what a home visit includes.
Birds nest on balconies and ledges. If birds start settling on a balcony or ledge, see bird control.
Treatments have a stay-out period. How long you must keep family and pets out depends on the product and the pest. Ask us for the time for your own job before the visit.
Municipality approval: the Dubai version of a licence
Dubai has no state licensing board like the ones above. Dubai Municipality's Public Health Pest Control Section issues a No Objection Certificate to pest control companies before they can get a trade licence, and it publishes a list of approved pest control companies. Sharjah Municipality keeps its own pest control register. You can learn more on our licence checking page.
Where BPCA and NPMA fit in
If you are used to AEPMA's PestCert or PMANZ's Find a Professional, you will want to know what MUMTAZ belongs to. MUMTAZ is a UAE company, founded in Sharjah in 2006, and a member of both the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) and the US National Pest Management Association (NPMA). It is also certified to ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001, holds Category A on the Sharjah Municipality pest control register, and has Dubai Municipality and Abu Dhabi pest control approval. See certifications.
- BPCA is a UK trade association. It says its members must follow its Codes of Best Practice.
- NPMA is a US non-profit trade association, founded in 1933, with over 4,000 members.
To check our BPCA membership, contact the association at membership@bpca.org.uk or ask us for proof. The NPMA directory needs a member login, so for NPMA the route is to ask the association, or to ask us.
Neither membership is a licence, and neither replaces municipality approval.
Five questions to ask any company in Dubai
Whatever you used at home, ask these before booking:
- Is the company approved by Dubai Municipality, and can you see proof?
- What does the inspection cover before treatment, and do I get a written service report?
- Which products will be used, and how long must we stay out?
- Is there a follow-up visit? Our residential package includes a gel bait follow-up within 3 days and a 6-month re-treatment warranty on the pests treated.
- Who is the technician, and are they registered with the municipality?
If you are new to the city, our residential pest control page explains the full process, and our Dubai area guide lists the communities we cover. Moving house first? Compare the move-in and move-out cleaning service.