Rat Infestation has cost us thousands

[Bizziee]

Hi all

I really need some advice!
Bit of back story. Me, my partner and our 3 year old have lived in our city centre apartment for 3 years and for the most part it's been fine. We have private parking which is great but can sometimes be a pain getting out because people park in front of the gate and we also have our own bin area which until a year ago was completely fine. We've had issues with the lift breaking down multiple times too (worst one was when it took 4 months to fix!) and we live on the fourth floor. Over the past year living here has become unbearable since tenants keeps dumping their rubbish next to the bins instead of actually using the bins and the company that own the building don't seem to care or do anything about the ongoing issues!! Sometimes rubbish is piled so high you can't even get in to use the bins. The rat infestion has become so bad I see them running around on a daily basis and hear them rumaging through bins and rubbish. It's vile.

A lot of the apartments in the building are owned and rented out to temporary tenants. My guess is because these tenants are temporary and don't care about the added costs we keep getting because of the issues they are also the reason for the constant fly tipping in our bin area. We have lodged complaint after complaint after complaint and nothing gets done. We get bounced around the management department, promised call backs that never come and have had to deal with 3 new managers because it's clearly an awful place to work and get the same "I'm new shit" from them. The rat infestation has become so disgusting and frankly scary. A few weeks ago a huge rat ran over my sons foot while we were getting in to our car. Did the company care? Of course not. Now the rats have literally chewed through our 40k car and costs us thousands of pounds in damages. They still don't care. We have raised this, sent pictures and even threatened them with court over the costs but we are just so so fed up now and at a total loss. We can't afford to buy a house yet and will be stuck here for another year or two if we have to keep paying out for our car. We can't go to our local council either because the building is privately owned.

It's not done anything but I have put up boards in the bin area as a resort of desperate measures. What can we do!? 😭

1. You can report the management company to Environmental Health
2. What do you mean your insurance does not cover the car?
3. Speak to a solicitor about the management company's responsibilities

if you put down any poison, make sure it is in a tamper proof bait box. It is now illegal to just put it on the floor on in a dish etc.

https://www.tbcandme.com/blog/post/bait-station-law

@Beetrootlover82 yes, the rats have entered our car. See the pictures I posted. I've got pictures and videos of the rubbish and rats. I'll try to post a video I took literally 20 minutes ago. And sorry, but there are up to 10 massive bins that are never full. Putting rubbish on the ground instead of the bin is an offence. And, disgusting....

I have called Enviromental Health and lodged a complaint so hopefully things start moving but I am going to keep calling and sending pictures etc. We're also going to go forward with getting the car damages covered by the management company because this problem was completely preventable if they had just done something the first time we complained.

Thanks everyone I really appreciate the replies and advice!!

This is only a few pictures that I have taken over the last several months

Also, we are covered through insurance but they wont cover the entire cost. It's not just about the cost anyway, we will now lose our 12 year no claims and the value of the car for resale is going to be even less

That's awful!

Questions:

• Do you pay service charges? If so, do the most recent accounts show they pay for any pest control?
• Are you aware of whether there are any other flat owners that are involved with the management company, or is everything left to the managing agent?
• Is your managing agent ARMA registered? You might want to consider threatening the agent with a complaint to their regulator, and actually following through with it.
• Can you make a small claims court claim for the damage to your car? With the managing agent/service charge trust as the respondent?

Hopefully involving EH will help move the situation along.

We had rats in the roof space above our office recently. You could literally hear their tip-tapping little feet running across the suspended ceiling!

Our landlord called a pest control company out right away and the problem was resolved within a couple of weeks. There are now a few rat boxes around the property which seems to keep them at bay as I only see one every so often near the bins.

You'll never get rid of rats completely (those bins have drainage holes in the bottom of them that the rats can get in anyway), but the population should be able to be controlled with an appropriate pest control contract being in place.

Do NOT under any circumstances put down rat poison in a public place.
Only a fecking idiot would suggest that.

I'm so sorry OP, that's terrible

I had a minor rat problem in my flats a few years back - as in, residents saw one or two - and Env Health were great. One day someone fly tipped outside the block door and the council cleared it within three hours of being told so I really hope your council helps you. I imagine they will put poison traps down immediately (in a supervised fashion obvs).

Are there any cameras so you can see who the culprits are leaving rubbish like that? Is it commercial rubbish by any chance?

I remember one chap lost his temper and absolutely screamed at someone he caught leaving rubbish by the bin. She tried to whine to me about him shouting at her but she got yelled at me by as well. This seemed to work.

The council also gave us extra bins and the chaps who dropped them off were so lovely, they even took some stuff to the tip for me that I'd been stuck keeping in my flat till I could pay for collection. I hope you have a good experience with them. Do you know your bin collectors? I say hi to them when I see them so even if your council is a bureaucratic black hole, the collectors will likely help you. Like so many of these workers, they really are the unsung heroes who keep things going.

That looks awful. How the hell did the rat get into your car??

I would Google if there is a local rat pack . They are people with terriers/air guns who like killing rats. More humane and free.

Do you have legal coverage under your own house insurance policy?

Yeah this isn't a minor problem anymore, they are everywhere. I do wish I could post a video I took yesterday for you guys but it won't let me. I went into the bin area, kicked a bin and one rat ran out, then another, then another and then at least 4 all together before I ran out in a panic. There are holes all around the car park now where they have nawed holes. How they got into the car I really don't know, but they have and now I'm terrified of how much more damage is going to be caused. I'm terrified to even get in let alone put my three year old in there.

I have screamed at people when I've seen them dumping rubbish but as I said before, these people are temporary tenants. Here for a few months at a time and then a load of new ones come in. It's a pretty big building, used to be an office block, 4 floors and up to 10 apartments on each floor. This was supposed to be an investment for our future and it's just turned into a nightmare

Hopefully you will hear from the council today
re your car, can you call someone yourself to deal with that? If there's certain smells and deterrents in your car, that will help keep them out of there.

I really feel for you, I wish I could say something more helpful.

OP, you have my sympathies, these might be worth a look to prevent further car damage:https://www.marketplace.farm/pest-control/rat-mat-edge-units-25-pack/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIucmHu7y6_gIVzO3tCh3A8Q-VEAQYAyABEgIG0fD_BwE

Another vote for contacting environmental health as a matter of urgency.

We had a serious problem with inadequate bins that our factors (Scottish equivalent to management company I guess) completely ignored. Birds and foxes would rip open the bin bags and spread the rubbish everywhere, and it was disgusting. I emailed environmental health with lurid details of used sanitary towels and nappies strewn all over the gardens and that the factors were refusing to deal with it, and they were out that afternoon with someone from the factor and it was sorted almost immediately. They were great despite it being privately owned, it's a health risk and needs addressed immediately.

Just wanted to update you guys on the situation. We had someone from the council out this morning, he was only there for the rubbish issue but after seeing the state of the bin area and the damage to our car because of the rats he's going to forward it to enviromental health. He was quite shocked that nothing has been done or a proper pest control company had been called out. I have raised it with enviromental health myself already but not sure how long that will take. We checked our car again this morning too just to make sure there wasn't further damage and there's more droppings 😭We decided to check the engine and they have chewed through wires and started nesting. There was a rat sat in the lower part of the engine WHILE we were looking!!!

I'm going to get some peppermint oil, an ultrasonic box and try those mat edge units someone has suggested.

I'm very appreciative of everyones responses by the way and grateful for the advice 🙏

I am glad the council guy was helpful OP, if he makes an internal referral things should move quicker with EH for you. I would be ready to skin those dumping the rubbish

I too am waging war on the rats, just had to pay £££ for a drain survey, but got to wait ‘up to 28 days’ for the water company to fix the issue🙄 My pest control guy said it’s never been as bad for rats as it is now.

OMG that's horrific. You must want to torch the car. Really glad the council are doing something. Your management company sound worse than incompetent. Do you know who the building's owner is? You should contact them and tell them you're going to take them to court for the damage to your car.

Do you have a building caretaker? Could the manangement company add clearing up the bin areas regularly added to their job sheet. This is how we deal with any bin dumping in our block. We also have a massive sign detailing bin use rules and CCTV. Anyone caught gets fined.

Some people are unfortunately a bit dumb - a few weeks ago someone in our block left a bag of McDonalds food in the commnal hall asking people to help themselves. Luckily a slightly less dumb neighbou put it in the bin.

Wow, OP, I am so sorry to hear this and I can really sympathize. We don't have rats ("just" mice) but we do have huge issues with fly tipping and our management company are infuriatingly useless. Same issues you describe, including high turnover, and it's not just the fly tipping but a range of issues that they refuse to address. And yet their fee keeps going up... I hear they are all as bad as each other but I find it hard to believe any of them are quite as bad as ours (three-letter name based in West London).

Hi OP
Sorry to hear this as I personally know how distressing it is. I also live in a development (West London) with a chronic and structural mouse infestation. So much so, mice are accessing apartments through ceiling vents etc. Droppings have also been previously found in cars. Can’t seem to square off the cycle of accountability - no-one admits liability. As it’s branded as a luxury development, there seems to be more concern about reputational damage rather than making homes fit for habitation.
Definitely keep your local council’s regulatory team updated - hope they will serve legal notice on the managing agents. As another poster mentioned, pest control forms part of your service charge so the managing agents are in breach of contract.
For info - I also wrote directly to the Managing Director of the Developer (superior landlord), updated both local MP and local Councillor.
All the best and keep us posted on how you get on.

THIS. Its hard to know where to start with the stupidity of suggesting placing poison in a public place (any place).

Hi everyone, apologies for the late reply we have had a pretty stressful few days with everything going on.

In answer to some questions, we have tried to get the contact details for the building owner but even just trying to speak to someone more senior from the management company is a ballache. They make excuses that such and such isn't available, they will call back etc. It's honestly beyond a joke.

And we have made countless suggestions for the bin area too. CCTV so the culprits can be fined or reprimanded. Better sinage about bin rules. All they have is an A4 piece of paper inside the building next to our lift that nobody reads or cares about. Regular deep cleaning or for a proper pest control to be sent out. All falls on deaf ears. This too is marketed as "luxury living".

We have now decided to leave our car at a friends house because we just can't relax anymore knowing that are car is sat down there with the onslaught of rats.

We're going to keep everyone that we can updated on the issue and keep trying to get the details of whoever is in ownership of the building. Hopefully we start getting somewhere soon because living here at the moment is utterly unbearable. It used to be so nice 😢

Morning

Forgot to mention - it might also be worthwhile contacting - https://www.lease-advice.org/. It’s a government funded legal advisory org. for leaseholders.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that your local authority will serve the managing agents with a notice. Seems like the only way to call them to action. Because they are not regulated, they don’t give a damn.
Hope you’re able to get some rest today!

Op you have my sympathy. I too live in a new build development that is luxurious with Ferraris and Lamborghini's parked in the Carpark but the people that live, mainly tenants are absolutely disgusting. We need to use a fob to access several doors to the bin area which is in the underground Carpark and the amount of times people leave their bins at the first entrance of the corridor which is by the lifts because the lazy fuckers have forgotten their fobs just pisses me off. I've complained to management many times as this will cause infestation and nothing has done. I'm just quietly praying the same will thing will happen to their Ferraris where their cables are chewed which will hopefully stop this but once these little fuckers are in, it's hard to get rid of them which could impact my car and my home too. All the new build developments are like fur coats with no knickers. All good on the outside but filled with filthy people who don't care about their building and the impact their filth and laziness can cause.