Next door attracting rats

[Sheridanflamingo]

Posting here for traffic. Last year we had mice and rats. As soon as i realised i went next door (terraced housing) to tell them and woman next door informed me 'yes we have had them since we moved in 3 years ago. Your never that far from them in London, I have some good potpourri because I can't stand the smell of them dying so I just ignore it'. This made me furious - she also has a young child and seems happy for him to live with the rats too. Eventually we got rid of them in our house - they were coming in from next door and now all points of entry blocked off etc. For the last 3 months the same people next door have grown 5 foot weeds in their front garden - it's like a mini field. It has been pointed out to me that this is a hiding place and attraction point for rats and mice. I can't tell them what to do with their own garden and i couldn't care less if they have rodents in their house but can i report to the council and ask that they are told to maintain their property to stop attracting mice and rats? I know what the rodents smell like we had it mildly in our house and when i went to speak to woman next door the smell of them in her kitchen was beyond overpowering - so i can only assume she is happy to have them in her house. I am NOT happy to have them in mine - I am furious, or will be if we get them again. Any advice? Anyone experienced similar neighbour issue?

Talk to them about the garden and explain about the problems. If they won't do anything perhaps they will at least agree to you applying weed killer or using a strimmer on it all then weed killer. If it's rented can you contact their landlord?

Never been in the same position but all I can suggest is that you get a cat, it will stop them from coming in.

NOt rented they own the house and based on the conversation i had with her i don't think she is remotely concerned about mice / rats so i don't think they will let me intervene with their weeds. I saw her husband standing around for ages recently with a friend looking at the weeds they were talking about gardening i think but nothing has been done so maybe they like them or think they are flowers - no idea! Can't get a cat as we travel for work each week at least 3 days so no one to look after it. Just wondering if council will take it seriously.

We've just had this issue as terrace dwellers. NDNs contacted the council and they sent someone round free of charge to investigate who then visited all the houses including ours. He checked for rats and gave advice. We have an electronic device which he said was working to deter them.
I would call your council if you suspect rats and let them advise your neighbours.

You can however the council can’t enforce it, we have a few tenants neighbours like this and unfortunately it’s just a battle field.

@haudyer oh god. You say tenants - these dirty rat lovers with their pot pourri are permanent next to me. Was thinking about just spraying weed killer on their weeds but I know that's illegal etc etc. All our other neighbours are lovely and everyone is sick to death of their ridiculous lax attitude. I actually know some of the people the husband works with and when I told them about the rats issue they weren't surprised?! Not sure what to make of that

I'm not sure if there's anything you can do about it, tbh. We have a rat problem because my neighbours keep chickens and the chicken feed provides a great food source for the rats. They also put food out for the birds and foxes - I spotted a rat eating a half eaten tray of lasagne in their front garden a few weeks ago. I've also seen one up on their bird table, enjoying a hearty meal.

Like you, we blocked up all the access points (after Mrs Rat got under our kitchen floor and used the space as a maternity unit), we also have steel mesh under the compost bin to stop them getting in it, our dustbin locks shut and we make sure that any food tins etc that go in the recycling are scrupulously clean.

I'm sure they still come in our garden and our garage though. We have a terrier and she spends ages sniffing in certain places and sometimes goes berserk trying to get in a corner of the garage or somewhere. At one point, she was killing at least one rat a week on average, and leaving them on the lawn, but she hasn't had one for ages now. She's either getting too old for ratting or the rats have learned not to come in when she's out in the garden.

We have a corner of the garden that we leave overgrown for wildlife (we have a hedgehog, sloworms, a robin and a yellowhammer in residence) but the dog isn't interested in it, so I don't think that's a rat haven.

@lakielady interesting - the house on other side of next door have a jack Russell now and said he has caught a lot of rats - would love to get a dog or a cat anyway regardless of rat issue but can't at moment. We also did all the blocking up etc and have locked bins - i think I'm just angry they subject the rest of the road to all the health risks of rodents and I feel sorry for their little boy.

As far as rats are concerned, what's the difference between a garden full of weeds, and a garden full of carefully tended plants? I wonder if your view of weeds is a red herring here?

Stopping up every possible entry point to your house is good. Using electronic pest deterrents, the ultrasound and electrical wiring one inside your house, and battery ones in loft, sheds and possibly garden, will keep rodents from returning to your property.( Google electronic pest deterrents Primrose.)

@dancingledge the difference is 5 foot tall dense weeds provides a different level of cover than a carefully tended garden - where you can generally see something at ground level. Grass or something maybe. It's like a miniature field out there.

I mean this in the gentlest way, but I think you seem to have a view of what a garden should be like. I garden my plot carefully, but it's cottage style, and has wide patches of carefully tended plants and shrubs , some 5ft high, some 1-2 ft high, where you can't see the ground at all.
Currently, no vermin. When one DC used not to be careful enough storing fishing bait, vermin. In previous house, open , low, ' neat' garden, so could easily see the rats running about. They were there because we had chickens, and even if you store chicken food in metal container, chickens drop some on the ground. If there's food, vermin will come: tall thick plants, flat concrete, all the same to them. It's the food source that's the attraction.

It is unfortunate that the council can't enforce it. Where we live, there is a bylaw that states unkempt weeds or grasses (in excess of 45 cm tall) are forbidden and the property dweller will get one warning. If the weeds are not removed in a specified period (usually 7-10 days) then the council will do it and pursue the dweller for the cost of rectifying the issue.

This has made a huge impact on the rodent population.

@sisyphus where do you live? I think that sounds brilliant. It's so infuriating having to deal with the whole thing

Ps we are in a suburb in west London - one road where everyone gets pests and rodents because of one ignorant dirty household causing everyone else to join the infestations they cause. Now that I write it down I realise how angry I am about it

You need 2 cats, OP, seriously. Get thyself to Battersea, get a couple of young cats, preferably females (these tend to be the best hunters) employ a pet sitter to feed them once a day and voila!

Cats get awesome new home.
Someone gets gainful employment
Rats have to negotiate Rexit
You have pets!

I don't think the council will do much.
We had them because a lazy arse LL couldn't be bothered to shift all the stuff from their previous tenants. Simply left it festering instead. I told the council this when we had an infestation and they weren't remotely bothered.

Simply left it festering instead.

To clarify. They brought everything out the house dumped it high in the garden. Left it 6 months then told the council that their tenants left it in that state.

Ps we are in a suburb in west London - one road where everyone gets pests and rodents because of one ignorant dirty household causing everyone else to join the infestations they cause. Now that I write it down I realise how angry I am about it

You do realise clean households get rats and mice too OP? My Aunt used to tell a fond tale of the time she visited Bucks Palace and saw some traps. I very much doubt Her Maj is a scruffpot.

Buckingham Palace will have lots of quiet undisturbed rooms and as an older property many nooks and crannies to get in. Rats have bendy spines. If you think of them as not really having bones, that is kind of what they are like (it is how they get up toilets.)

I don't think the weeds will attract rodents. They'll be after food. Regardless of how overgrown a garden is, rodents won't appear unless there's food. My lawn is short, there are mice coming into my shed because the dog food is stored there.

@opheliacat i think that's what we will do now to be honest. @johnsnow that is disgusting aaaaaaargh why are people so filthy? I don't understand how people do this stuff knowing it will cause rats in their home, does that not bother some people?! Mesmerising and vile. @maelstrop maybe not, but it definitely encourages them to hang around. The people living next door to me are clearly filthy - i say this based on the fact that they told me word for word that they prefer to buy artiticial scent to try to mask the smell of rat piss and faeces rather than get rid of the rats. So them having a hiding place for rats in their front garden doesn't help when god knows what else they are already doing to attract them.

We've had a similar issue - rats entering from an adjoining garden and said garden is full of crap (old beds, cabinets etc and also generally overgrown) we did tell them but still have the same issue - just glad none have come inside yet!

@tastesjustlikecherrycola we have bait boxes with poison in our garden now to prevent them come across. Next door also have holes in their flat roof we put them everywhere in our garden and on top of utility room. Their back garden is atrocious also. We used to have bird feed hung high up on our washing line but stopped doing that now because no food whatsoever is safe seeing as a family of rodents have a welcome home for life next door. Out of interest what did they say when you told them? I think the people next door to me are so oblivious and dirty i keep thinking they are unusual but seemingly maybe more common than i realised?

They just said oh really, thanks for letting us know but haven't done nothing otherwise. I think they must have been nesting somewhere, they seem to pass through our garden to get to the other side of us who have a bird table. The annoying thing is our council don't have a pest control department

In our last house our neighbor fed birds constantly. Always scraps of bloody food over the grass year round. We backed onto fields and a river, which was close to a stable. The above combined made it rat heaven! Didn't stand a chance of getting shot of them. We'd often see a rat skirting the edge of our garden to get to and from next door. We ended up making a small hole in the very corner of our garden fence (nearest the bird feeding neighbor boundary) to let the buggers through from the field and into next door bypassing our garden. And it worked. Over and over we spoke to the neighbor about the bird feeding and the rats. SHe would shrug and say she never saw them

No help OP sorry. Just my story.