There is no reason for a barely researched and barely informative post.

This is serious. You may need rabies shots.

I know this isn't the comment you were looking for, but here is our experience.

We had a bat in our bedroom a few years ago and our doctor told us that the CDC recommends that anyone who sleeps in a house in which a bat is found should receive the rabies vaccine.

I did some research and discovered that about half the rabies deaths in the US over the past decade, had no known bites. Some of them didn't even a known exposure to bats. So it's not just people who have 'bat bites' that are at risk. Also, my vet told me that a bat bite might be hard to recognize - they can be tiny little scratches.

Result: our whole family had rabies shots- two quite painless shots right away and then 3 more over the next two weeks.

The shots are not bad, they aren't painful. Everyone is scared of them but usually because of the the childhood horror story we were all told - '20 shots right in the stomach.

True that rabies is really rare - there are only one or two deaths a year in the US - but it's always fatal. So even though it was really unlikely that we were exposed to rabies, better safe than sorry.

So, read what the CDC says (it's all online) and talk to your doctor.

Armed with this information, your landlord shouldn't be much of a problem.

Maybe I should have said that I like bats, which is why we didn't kill our little intruder in the first place (If we had killed him instead of letting him go, we could have avoided the rabies shots).

We had a humane pest service come in - they found a 'bat nursery' in the roof space by the chimney. They closed it up over time so all the babies had a chance to grow up and leave. Then, we had them put a bat house in a tree at the foot of our lot, so they had someplace to go.

I'm going to have to echo Dulcibella here. I work for a state Public Health Department and rabies is a really serious concern. Almost all US cases come from bat bites and as mentioned above, you won't necessarily know if you've been bitten since the bites can be miniscule and painless. Virtually all cases of human rabies are fatal, so it's something you really don't want to take a chance on. If you see a bat in your home or find yourself in contact with a bat (dead or alive) it's a good idea to get vaccinated just in case - and get the bats the heck out of your house! Depending on the severity of the bat problem (i.e. some of them are aggressive and/or dying) you may also want to contact your local health department.

You have bats in your bellfrey!
(I've always wanted to say that)

I'm surprised that there's no mention made of bat houses - or even a link to "How to catch a bat in your house"?

http://www.wikihow.com/Catch-a-Bat-in-Your-House

Bats are great creatures! They are extremely helpful and important to the ecosystem. While having them in your house is obviously an unwanted situation, there are better ways to deal with bats than what is outlined here.

After removing the bats and patching the hole where they entered your house, one option (never mentioned in this post) is putting up a bat box in your front or back yard or along a fence. Then release the bats back into their natural habitat (yes, in your yard). This gives the bats a place to live that is not inside your house but still benefits your area. Not only do they eat tons of insects, but their waste (guano) is extremely nutritious for plants.

This site is read by a lot of people and this post does a disservice to those reading it by not including a variety of options (and particularly leaves out one option that most benefits the bats, humans and nature) to deal with the bats.

Do more research next time.

You know what my great grandfather used to do when he found bats in his house?
Fed them.
And he lived to a ripe old age, having never contracted rabies.

For those of us in the UK, the options are very different as bats are protected by law.

Just in case anyone here is tempted to follow the advice in the article, don't, it's illegal to:
1. Deliberately capture, injure or kill a bat
2. Intentionally or recklessly disturb a bat in its roost or deliberately disturb a group of bats
3. Damage or destroy a bat roosting place (even if bats are not occupying the roost at the time)
4. Possess or advertise/sell/exchange a bat (dead or alive) or any part of a bat
5. Intentionally or recklessly obstruct access to a bat roost

What you should do is call the bat helpline for advice 0845 1300 228.

Rabies is pretty much unheard of in British bats.

Before writing snotty comments, MeganMarguerite, please note that bat houses have already been mentioned in my comment above.

It's possible to love bats and respect the ecosystem, while still realizing that exposure to bats is the leading risk of rabies in this country.

If you have witnessed the lone bat enter your house, just turn off the lights and open the door wide, he will find his way back out pretty quick.

We just had this conversation at work today, after both a colleague and myself lived through it last year.

I would kill it and take it to be tested. Rabies is no joke.

I had a bat IN my window (between the glass and the screen). I live in the "valley" of LA. Didn't even really know that bats lived in that area. Unfortunately we had to kill it as we didn't know what else to do. It was kind of scary actually. Sorry little bat! That's what happens when you hang in the sunshine! :(

Sounds like we have people sounding alarm bells when they really don't know much about the subject. I just had bats in the house as well. We shooed them out with a towel and then called in a professional with decades of experience. One way vents are placed at the site of the droppings which indicate the entry point or points. Those vents are left for about a month to allow the colony to leave, but not return. The house was inspected for other possible entry points and a mesh was inserted between the brick and the siding that is impermeable to the bats, they don't gnaw like rats, and then those areas are also caulked. At no point did the professional wildlife control person say we needed rabies shots.

I don't think the bat should be harmed if it can be avoided. I also agree the rabies vaccine is the way to go - read a story about a person who died from rabies and had no idea they had been bitten by a bat that was in the house. If you witnessed the bat come in and kept it in your site then obviously you can feel better that no contact was made. But if it spent the night and you didn't know I would be worried! I also heard that you are supposed to wash down the walls and any surfaces the bat came in contact with. Not sure of cleaning solution though.

Alarm bells should be sounded as rabies is a definite worry. The difference between your experience and others may have been that you were awake and aware of your contact with the bat. In dulcibellas case, the bats were in the home when she (and her family) were sleeping. I will echo her and direct you to the CDC website where two of the fatalities listed were children who had been sleeping when bitten. Many times you will not know that you have been bitten and/or contracted the disease until symptoms start. Better safe then sorry, especially if you have young children in the home.
I guarantee that the CDC has more information then you or even your wildlife control person about the threat of rabies. Does that mean you need to wet yourself when you encounter a bat? No. But under certain circumstances the shots may be necessary.

Dulcibella,
My comment was not snotty; I was merely pointing out that this post was lacking a great option. Furthermore, your post was not yet posted when I was typing mine so there was no way I could have read it beforehand. The only other post I saw was the initial one from wally3. Geez; back off!

We had a bat a month and a half or so ago. It caught my boyfriend in the attic wearing just his boxers. I was woken up by a foot pounding on the floor and the screams of a little girl. I understand that it was scary for him and that rabies is no joke, but it was still hilarious. But the poor guy was kind of trapped at the far end of the attic (which is a semi-finished space that he practices/records music) and whenever he would try and get out of the attic the bat would come swooping at him.

We had to wait a couple of days to get a pest control person in (it was a Saturday night when he found it and it was going to be an extra $300 for them to come out on a Sunday) but they checked our attic and found nothing. He said that most likely if the bat hadn't escaped it had found a tight little hole in the wall and curled up there. Most likely, he said, it had died if it had been in the house for more than a day. He also did not find a point of entry in the attic and suggested that it had come in through the front door without us realizing it!

unholy guano batman! But Seriously folks I had no idea you needed shots unless you knew you were bitten. Quite scary.

We used to get bats pretty frequently at my parents' house. We just let them be: either the cat got 'em or they found their own way out.

I know how to get rid of a bat -- call the police! Two years ago, on my first night back in my house after a long trip, I heard noises of somebody sneaking around in my attic. I kept listening, and the noises just got louder. So I called 911. Five minutes later, six armed cops were knocking at my front door. While I cowered in the living room, they searched my house from basement to attic. . . and found a lone and very scared little bat. After I declined to press charges, they trapped the little guy with a broom and a plastic bag, and took him outside to freedom. A happy ending for all.

@philippat

This post is pretty anemic, but I see no reason their sparse advice shouldn't be followed, even in the UK.  All it says is to let the professionals handle it, and presumably professionals would know what is and is not allowed.  None of what you listed is indicated by the post.

Just to back up MeganMarguerite - Jesus, Dulcibella, 'snotty'? Pot, meet Kettle? MM was talking about the OP, which is why she said "post" - you know, not "comments". MM's comment was thoughtful and valuable.

More on topic though, how can you not know if you've been bitten? I mean, I get how the bites themselves might not be easy to see or feel, but wouldn't you kind of notice when the bat came swooping down and swiped with teetch and/or claws? Because, you know, it's a BAT. Biting you.

Philippat ...We have laws protecting bats in the US , and though it varies from state to state , most states do protect them . Rabies contracted from a bat is very rare , but it can happen and apparently you don't always feel a bite if you are sleeping . We just had more bats than I care to know living in my attic with a couple that got into the house that we happened to see.We did a humane bat exclusion, it's the law but I would not have done it any other way anyway! It is very possible that some one can be asleep and bitten and not even ever know a bat was even in the house!So , the rabies vaccine scare is debatable. You also might contract a deadly disease or get hit by a bus. Bats are not likely to get rabies that often ,I think it is a personal choice to get the shots or not unless you have proof of rabies of course . Just thought I would throw in my two cents !

I mentioned on another wildlife-in-the-house post a while back that if you have contact with a bat (i.e. actual touching) it is considered suspect since bats have such good sonar. A acquaintance's son got put at the front of a NYC emergency room line for merely mentioning an (albeit outdoor) encounter with a bat, but with no known bite. The phrase 'phantom bite' came up and was taken seriously. Of course, if you are trying to capture a bat you are then bound to have some sort of contact - or at least hard to tell if you didn't - so apparently you've also set yourself up for having to get the rabies shots, I guess. I've always gotten bats out by giving them a wide open door and windows plus turning off the lights.

@lepidoptery you're right that any professional pest control company in the UK would likewise tell you to call the bat helpline.
Once a bat has found its way in, though, you aren't allowed to just seal up the hole as suggested in the article - this is intentionally obstructing access.