Buyers Remorse: Will I ever get rid of my inherited rat problem?

[SuperFi]

So stressed out, bought house in November, after 4 weeks it became clear we had a rat problem, and I am seriously rodent phobic. I heard them in the attic.
Action taken so far:
rat poison in attic and garden ( with council and private company ) Entry points sealed with wire wool and cement, air vents meshed up , compost heap removed, decking removed.
The pest company told me that they found old traps in the attic from previous owner. this was not picked up on the survey as this area had been boxed off. Fortunately they were not nesting but visiting accordingly to the pest control.
Not heard anything from the rats since the work done, until today. Heard a noisy rummaging sound behind the gas fire place, (the gas fire is capped off and not used). It sounded like the noise I heard in the attic before, so I don’t think it was a bird.
The worst thing is my son heard it too ( never told him about the attic rats he is autistic, and it was hard enough to get him settle as it was)
I have found our the next houses ( not adjoining) have a been infested for months before we bought the property ( terraces,they are running through the lofts) and the landlord is not sorting it out.

I will of course be calling the pest control again tomorrow, but so fed up with it all, I can’t relax in my new home, I shun the garden as I’m afraid of what might be lurking, I have tried to be brave, but just don’t think I can ever settle.
I have found a terrier team in my area I hope they can help, also wondering if I can make a complaint regarding the negligent landlord of the neighbouring properties.
eould be grateful for any advice .

I thought some councils offer pest control. You should check on your local council website and find out.

From what you say it will be difficult to address the problem solely through your property alone if the rats live elsewhere and are coming in.

However, if you do inform the council, they may come to the same conclusion and start taking action as regards other properties, so it's worth being aware of that.

My sympathies, it's horrible. We pulled out of a house purchase as the buyer (naively) had already told us there were cluster flies in the attic and she could not get rid of them, then told us she also could not stop the rats in the garden/shed area. We've had problems ourselves in a rural area and it's a never-ending battle against the filthy little destructive bastards. I'd move OP. Don't think you have a leg to stand on legally, previous owners can just deny any knowledge.

I'd just keep putting poison down everywhere - it does eventually work. Maybe even pots of it in the neighbours garden hedges etc if they aren't playing ball.

Get a cat, they do not like areas where cats are. They will soon move on.

When this happened to my friend she got environmental health involved and they wrote to the landlord, but she was in a semi detached and the rats needed treating in both propoerties. Im not sure if they can enforce action if the terraced houses arent attached to you?. Be aware if it gets reported as a neighbour dispute you'll need to declare it upon moving.

I feel for you OP. We are rapidly becoming great friends with our local pest control man. I find dead rats every other day on the patio or under my shrubs thanks to poison. But we back onto a farm, so its an endless battle and there are more of them than us.

Get a cat, they do not like areas where cats are. They will soon move on.
Not true. My neighbours all have cats who use my patio as sunbathing/hunting/shitting spot and the rats are still here.

But I bet your neighbours don’t have any rats in the house ? The op has a rat problem in the house and rats will not come in the house if it smells of cat.

most people have rats around outside somewhere, there is no getting away from them.

those terrier teams are brutal I watched a videos of them at a farm that was overrun with rats there were hundreds of them and the dogs demolished them 🙂

Thanks all for your supportive replies.

Anyway my last pest control company couldn’t see me today so called another company . It is NOT good news. Guy said they are in house under floor boards accessed through cavity walls, he got in under the void of the house, took photos I could see the rat runs under the house.

He put out loads of poison , but said I have to get permission from adjoining neighbours for him to look for entry points ( I am at the end of 4 terrace block), he said if not coming from neighbours it could be the drains and a rat valve would be needed.

Shocked as I thought my adjoining neighbours were not the problem, but, my next door are a bit deaf and maybe not heard them.

I did notice the void door has a gap where they ycould have got in ( missed by previous pest control) and he is going to fix that. One of the houses at the end of the road has been doing some building work so I think it might have triggered latest flare up.

I am still somehow managing to hide all this from autistic DS, but don’t know how much longer I can keep it up. I have put peppermint oil everywhere and got a ultra sonic repeller going. I am seriously thinking of checking in to Air b n b for a couple of weeks.

Oh op this is horrendous. I can’t imagine how horrible this would be for you. I’ve had mice before and that was bad enough and I felt constantly on edge. My work colleague had rats and she ended up moving as it was destroying her MH. The poor girl wasn’t sleeping great and was so scared, she felt like she would never be comfortable there again. She’s now really happy in her new home.
Have you contacted your solicitor regarding this to see if there is anything they can do? I suppose the previous owners can dent but if you can prove they have had a company out previously (possibly via the traps) then you might be able to reap some compensation.

@Movingonup2023 I have looked into redress from previous neighbours, but he tried to sort it himself ( badly) from the evidence found by my pest control. I don’t think there’s much I can do there. I do want to sort it out, otherwise I will only be passing the problem on to another poor soul. My nerves are in bits though.

• previous owner I should say.

There’s no one thing quick fix in my personal experience, but lots of little things that make your home unpleasant for rodents will work.

we moved into a detached home that clearly had a rodent problem - holes, etc in main living spaces that weren’t obvious until all the furniture was out and we moved in. Had a couple of incidents where rat ran through the lounge they were that bold 🤢. Tried a bit of it all: wire wool at all entry points, peppermint oil sprayed every couple of days, traps, poison (but really carefully placed as we have children), the plug in sound deterrents, eliminate any potential food sources. We also got a dog in that time period, but not sure if it made a difference . Cumulatively have now achieved no noticeable rodent presence in the house - first year would get a mouse a day, now we don’t catch any. We live very rurally, so definitely creatures in the garden, and I imagine we have the occasional visitor, but no cohabitation, which is my personal threshold.

I have had mouse problems when living in a terrace, and it is more difficult in that you can’t control your neighbours, but have found persistence is rewarded there as well. Traps are unpleasant, but it does help you monitor the situation- you can see the frequency decrease over time and it tells you that what you are doing is working.

I’ve got experience of mice in a terrace house where the neighbours don’t do anything and I managed to get it under control with a large amount of poison under the floorboards / behind the kitchen.

anyway, rats are worse and we bought a rural house where there is a rat problem in the village. They moved under the floorboards in the winter but I have killed them with a lot of rat poison in strategic places. I think you just have to permanently have poison in safe boxes in the places where they are travelling. They watch the boxes for a few days before they eat it and it can take about a week for them to die. I got completely obsessed by them over Christmas but I have won for now. I think it is going to be a permanent battle though.

some councils will deal with this for you for free if there are signs of rats in the house.