Neighbour demanding money for rentokil

[slinky2008]

We live in London and as most people are aware, there is a major rat problem. We live in a small block of flats with shared access to bins/walkways etc. One of our local neighbours (next door to the flats) called an exterminator, who has set bait traps on his property as well as one on the common ground belonging to the flats.

He has demanded money from a number of the neighbours to pay towards this service. From a legal point of view, do we have to pay for this? We were not consulted about the initial visit and now the company is coming every two months at £60 total per visit. We get a letter through the door.

According to the company there is evidence of rat activity but we have always been careful to not feed birds, leave food out etc. Our compost is only very small and contains garden clippings and we have a wormery for our main kitchen compost.

Any advice welcomed please.

no - think about it - people can't just ring up any old contractor and bill you - ring
shelter

I can see that a Landlord could demand this, but I wouldn't have thought your neighbour could enforce anyone else paying up unless you had all signed up to some sort of legally binding agreement.

None of us were consulted about the visits, although he has told us for the last few years that there are rats around, but no-one has signed anything. But, we feel he is harassing us - verbally challenging my husband and by letter. We have tried to ignore it but it seems to be getting worse. He has tried to sue one of the other neighbours on another matter. I will call CAB and see what they say.

or shelter - they know everything

Tell him you're not paying so therefore he can keep all the rats caught for himself.

the company say the poison is being eaten, but we've never seen or smelled any dead rats........I'm sure they're just passing through and don't live on our property. And I know I'm saying it's someonelse's problem, but at the end of the day I don't have that kind of money, just to help him out. He's not a nice person into the bargain.

shelter can quote law things and send them in a letter to you

you can then give this letter to eighbour and hand to a solicitor and instruct to write letter of much fuck offedness

Why was rentokil choosen? Does he have a relative that works for this comapny?

Why did he call the comapny? there is a big rat problem in most cities - what happened that he called in a company to get rid of rats?

I smell a rat here

He's keeping them in a box, when you cough up the money he'll hand you a weeks worth of dead rats.

He's keeping them in a box, when you cough up the money he'll hand you a weeks worth of dead rats.

Sorry Hatrick, our local council does charge but it is cheaper than the company that is currently coming.

Yes, I do fear I'll have one on the doorstep one of these days! He says he sees them 'dancing in his garden' and that's a direct quote.

hatrick - who knows - our is a fixed 3 visit fee of £115

yes, we have copies of the paperwork and it's between him and the company, even though one fo the other neighbours is supposedly contributing. the thing is he is only hassling two out of the four lots of residents who are responsible for that common area. if he was being really smart he would've demanded from all of them. his argument is that one lot don't keep their bins there and the other is too old.

I mean - can rats really open wheelie bin lids?

Tell him to stop bothering you. Of course he can't charge you for his decision! He's a nutter.

Sounds like they are clever rats - opening wheely bons nd dancing across only his lawn to torment him tell him the cheque is in the post - he is trying it on and trying to get you to just pay his bills if he hassles you enough.

Thanks everyone - you've been a great support!