Selling when you maybe have rats

[tinycatpaws]

Name change for this one.

I'm about to put my flat on the market, it's a block of 3 and the other 2 flats have heard rats recently. We had them a few years ago in our loft and I got the council pest control to deal with it, I've not heard them since.

However, I left some traps in my loft from that time and caught one about 3 weeks ago, since then there's been nothing in the traps and I've not heard any scratching noises but my downstairs neighbour says she still hears them.

The thing is that I want to sell my flat and I don't know how to approach this. Neighbour refuses to use poison as it stank out her house last time apparently and the other neighbour isn't bothered about them. I probably wouldn't be either if I wasn't moving since I can't hear them and there's no evidence to suggest they're inside the flat.

Can I use poison even if my neighbour doesn't want to?

My current plan is to sell, and use the time between selling and moving to get the council out to deal with them again. That way I'm not leaving it for the new buyers, and I don't have to deal with my neighbour moaning about the smell. I'm not sure if I need to disclose it when selling?

OP for goodness sake don't hang about - get the problem sorted now! In the time you are dithering they could be reproducing and then you really will have a problem on your hands. You don't need the council you can just call a private pest control firm.

And the smell is not from the poison, it's from their dead and decomposing bodies.

Call the council now. You don't have to disclose it but also don't want a sale ruined by the sound, droppings or even view of rats running around.

I agree - act quick and get it dealt with. And get rid of any obvious food sources - bins that aren't sealed well, feeding the birds etc

It's disgusting, get the council out, have you heard the saying "breeding like rats"? There will be hundreds of them by now, the smell would have been decomposing bodies not the poison.
We waited a few days for council when we reported and the amount had trebled in a few days, if it's been weeks, God only knows how many are there.

Thanks for the replies.

Believe me I want to get this sorted! When I speak to neighbour she refuses to get the council out because she doesn't want them to die underneath her floor and stink her house out again. I don't really want to do that to her either but I'm not sure what else to do , I certainly don't want to leave my buyers with a the problem.

The other thing is that I think she might be a bit vengeful if I get the council out and I'm worried she might talk to people coming to look at the flat and tell them the problem - she sits outside when it's sunny so would see people coming and going.

We are selling knowing these is a recurring problem with rats. Pest control out twice and told us there was nothing we can do- there are no obvious holes and we are incredibly clean with food etc. Unfortunately as we are in an old terrace it's easy for them to move around

Currently don't have any as we poisoned them but this was a nightmare- smell lasted for weeks and then we had hordes of flies. I couldn't imagine tying to sell with this going on.

Sorry you're in this situation, just try and get rid of them ASAP before you try to sell.

Could you not just get pest control company out and ask them to use traps, not poison?

You might struggle to sell if you get infested with rats, a surveyor would likely find evidence of them. They’ll also gnaw things and cause damage, surely?

Thanks @iswhois I'm in an old property too, it's just a downside of living here I think. That's why I thought doing between selling and moving would be best as I'm aware if it was to smell whilst selling it would be not be ideal :-/

@Saz12 I'm using traps - a mixture of humane and snappy - and have set many more since finding the dead rat but there hasn't been a sniff! I've never heard them in my flat so I'm about 80% sure they're mostly making their lair downstairs!

Hmmm... I’d keep setting the traps (apparently banana works well as bait), and see if neighbour would do the same?

Just be mindful if you start approaching companies you are going to have to declare it when you sell. So options are

1. Get the problem sorted by somebody and mention when you sell
2. Try and sort it/hide it yourself and hope they buyer and surveyor miss it

Don't know if this helps but someone I know had rats and thought they were coming fin from under the decking. It actually turned out they were coming in from a broken pipe from the drains. Took ages to sort out ( council were rubbish - best person was a private pest control )but no problem since

Don't want to be negative but we also had problems with the traps set by pest control. A couple only got injured not trapped which resulted in a bloody, shitty mess all over one of our foot stalls- I found the rat in a plant pot on the floor and had to drive out to set it free.

God they are such a pain- I really do sympathise.

I had a rat problem for over a year in my house. Had the council out so many times. Must have trapped over 50 and many died under the house. Finally got a proper private person round who said 80%of rat issues are where they are coming in through drains - often in an area that has been extended or building work has happened as it only takes a small crack when the Earth settles post-building works for them to get in. For me, the builders had not capped off the old drains when building my kitchen extension and they were coming up from the drains and getting under the suspended floorboards with free reign under every room. He lay the poison that dehydrated and sends them out, blocked the drain up and haven't had a problem since. But, in the year that it took to get the right person out, we had so many. I was in the process of selling my house at the time (I pulled out for other reasons) and when I reflect now I can't believe I was going to pass that problem on, knowingly.

Thank you for all the replies and advice.

As I say, I'm fairly sure they're mostly in the downstairs flat. The one I caught looked quite fresh (eww) but haven't heard any scratching like last time and all the other traps I set are untouched. I'm also worried if I bait too much it will attract them if they're not already here! The timing couldn't be worse, this is such a pita!

@Devlesko

It's disgusting, get the council out, have you heard the saying "breeding like rats"? There will be hundreds of them by now, the smell would have been decomposing bodies not the poison. We waited a few days for council when we reported and the amount had trebled in a few days, if it's been weeks, God only knows how many are there.

No I haven't but I have heard the saying "breeding like rabbits"

I think you're right not to go into overkill (ahem) OP. You could well entice them. Just monitor the situation, keep 1 or 2 traps baited. You WILL hear them if they're around, especially late at night.

If there was even the slightest suggestion I had rats I’d have snappy traps down as soon as humanly possible, the impact on buyers would be the last thing on my mind.

Poison is not humane and does cause the issues the neighbour has highlighted, but even worse, they can make it outside and die and another animal eats them and it too is poisoned.

Just get it dealt with.

@jassa090 can I ask if you have and evidence you could share to support that?