We live in a semi-rural village and have lived in our house for 30 years. Both dh and I have lived in the same village all of our lives and are used to country living.
Six years ago we got new ndn. We have never had any major issues with them, however, they are as messy as hell. They have a very large back garden and have filled it with junk, five old rusty vans and a few old motorbikes sit there which he says he'll do up and sell but they have never moved, they just sit there with weeds growing through them. He broke up an old concrete path some years back and the rubble sits in a pile, again with weeds growing around them. He has piles of logs all over the garden, literally piles here and there. Two big guinea pig hutches and an array of other junk laying around, they also have 3 dogs and there are piles of dog crap scattered around the garden. And this is from what I can see from upstairs, there is a lot I can't see so who knows what other shite is lying around.
Because my husband grew up on farms he is fully aware how to manage country living and when there is vermin around he can see where they have been and makes sure that we never have an infestation (and we never have). He said a few weeks ago that he has noticed a few things in the garden which leads him to believe there are rats around and noticed what looks like burrowing holes under the fence between ours and our ndn. He mentioned this to the neighbour who said he absolutely did not have rats and if anything it's probably just mice. My husband said the size of those holes would not have been made by mice but the ndn wouldn't have it.
Forward to yesterday and we were sitting in our conservatory and a big fat rat ran across our patio and hid behind a watering can. We sat and watched it for a while to see where it went and sure enough it scurried back across the garden and under one of the burrows and into the ndn garden where no doubt it has a nest and countless other family members.
It's so annoying that in the 3 decades we have lived here we have never had a rat infestation due to the way my husband manages the garden and also because our previous ndn kept his garden clean and tidy too. We don't leave anything down which could potentially harbor vermin but now it looks as though we have this issue and it is more than likely due to our neighbours mess. DH mentioned it to him last night but he still won't have it. I just wished we had recorded the sighting yesterday to show it going back into their garden.
How do we deal with this if he's in denial? How someone keeps their property is of no interest to me but if it starts to cause issues within someone elses property surely they need to take responsibility? I don't want to fall out with them by calling environmental services so not sure what to do other than put poison down on our side which isn't ideal as we too have a dog.
WWYD in our situation?