Rats have got into my mothers house through neighbour

[steventhepeeven]

Hi,
My mum has a rat problem, in the last 4 years she's had the council, water board and pest control come multiple times, all of which have said there's no where in the house they could have got into the property from her garden.

Our neighbour has decking next joined onto their house, of which is joined onto hers (it's a terrist housing).

They are denying all responsibility, saying they can't hear anything and refuse to have the decking checked.... my mother is a 60 year old widow living alone and is stressed to tears (it's upsetting thinking that my mum is so old now...)

what can she do about it? does she need to get a court order?

She could get a ferret or borrow a ratter like a terrier.
That's a serious suggestion, not a sarcastic one.
It seems to be peak season for them right now.

No advice on the rat problem.

60 isn’t old!

Ferret or terrier are good ideas.

Also large cats!

We have a terrier. He told us we had a rat under our kitchen cupboards and that next door had them under the decking. Turns out they'd come from next door and were living under the decking. Get a terrier and you'll know if they're next door.

I put poison down to kill the one in our kitchen and the neighbours put poion under the decking and it killed several.
Not sure what you can do if your neighbours won't put poison down,.

We have a terrier. He told us we had a rat under our kitchen cupboards and that next door had them under the decking. Turns out they'd come from next door and were living under the decking. Get a terrier and you'll know if they're next door.

I put poison down to kill the one in our kitchen and the neighbours put poison under the decking and it killed several.
Not sure what you can do if your neighbours won't put poison down,.

60 is "so old?"

60 isn't old
Get some snap traps

We have the same with next door. Reported to environmental health. They came and visited us and neighbours both sides. Turns out one of our neighbours is a hoarder. They have him X amount of weeks to sort it out. They've done one home visit and weren't impressed with how much he hadn't cleaned up. So a second appointment set up...but then Covid hit.

Meanwhile we've had professional vermin control in. That's sorted out our house mostly. But it's very expensive.

sorry - I'm just used to thinking of my mum while she was in her 40s... 60 isn't old, but just got off the phone to her and she was saying that she's tired and can't do the work she does any more (she's a care worker for the elderly).

she won't get a dog and we don't have anyone with a terrier... not sure why that breed would work especially as they are in the ceiling... are better than any other?

I'll speak with the environmental agency to see what they can do

I have read about teams of dog handlers who will bring a set of terriers to sort infested areas. It's worth looking at.

And bait boxes set outdoors may help as well.

Unless there's a tunnel under the decking to the inside of your mum's house, or the decking runs over the back of your mum's house and there's a hole in her wall, it seems unlikely they're getting in under the decking. Has anyone gone around the outside of your mum's house to look for ways the rats could get in? We had them coming in through a cracked drain under a raised timber floor.

Our neighbours gave us rats (terraced houses). Our council gets rid of rats for free.

We got that expanding foam stuff and went round the whole loft filling absolutely every space. Still occasionally hear them in the loft space of our neighbours but can't get into ours. We leave biscuits up there to check and they aren't nibbled at all.

Terriers because they are wired to hunt rats, most breeds wouldn't show any interest or know how to find them.

Would she get a cat? Ours is 14 and still an excellent ratter.

Our cat just died from rat poisoning :( which thinking about - the neighbours probably put down :p