Mice upstairs , but can't see them in my flat??

[Pointerdogsrule]

I own a period flat, with sole use of garden, the house was converted into two flats. The flat upstairs have a mice problem, (owned by a landlord who doesn't really give a shit about the flat) the last tenants just moved out and its empty while he finds new tenants, but as they left they told me they're leaving due to the mice infestation. As the flat upstairs is empty now, I can actually hear the mice in the nightime running about!

I f*cking hate mice. When we got the flat, I paid a friend who runs a commerical pest company to seal up all the gaps in the kitchen (which we ripped out) and under the stairs and in every room. We laid hardwood floor and he came again to do some sealing and went into the garden.
The flat was 'mouse proofed' around 2 years ago.

I've never seen a mouse or any droppings, but theres apparently millions of them upstairs, is it just a matter of time before they chew through into my flat?

Basically yes. Sorry to say. There's no such thing really as total mouse proofing especially in older houses/conversions.
You need to insist the landlord deals with the mice ASAP!

Thanks, I suspect my hunting dog is keeping the mice away in my flat and they're already all around me.

Without wanting to increase your concern, are you sure it's just mice? They are absolutely tiny and I've sat in my house as one ran past me (thanks to the cat) and it didn't make a noise. We've had rats in our office ceiling and they definitely made more noise.

Good that you've got a hunting dog though - I'd have otherwise recommended a cat. Mine would have an absolute field day! She can wipe out a family of mice within a few days normally (at least I suspect so - we get "gifts" daily for about a week, then nothing until she finds another nest to ravage).

It's good that you've got all the gaps previously sealed. All you can do is keep on at the landlord, contact environmental health if it doesn't get better upstairs and remain vigilant in your own property and call in pest control at the first sign of anything.

I think it could be r-a-t-s maybe. I mean its a typical high ceiling building, to hear scurrying like that for tiny mice??

It makes me feel physically sick to think about it. I did see a rat last year in the garden and got my pest friend to come out and he checked the whole flat couldn't see any sign of them (or mice).

I think this is all pointing to selling up, I've never liked this flat and got it just after lock down because it had a huge private garden, rare in London, but since seeing the rat scuttling around near the fence last year from the kitchen windows, I don't go out there and or my DC , my partner is as much as a wimp as me when it comes to rodents.

Much prefer living either in a house or a purpose built flat.

The problem is that there will be rats and mice or other rodents (we have glis glis in our area) wherever you go. Any property can be susceptible to them.

We have a detached house in a nice residential neighbourhood where there doesn't appear to be any rubbish etc around. Bins are all sealed wheelie bins, etc.

Yet, still my cat brings back mice, rats, squirrels or glis glis on a regular basis. I'm not sure how far she ventures, but it's all residential round here.

I would perhaps suggest, kindly, that you might want to look in to finding some help for your fears? I can understand being hesitant about going in the garden if you've seen a rat recently, but to be avoiding the garden months later is not sustainable for you.

You're right of course, having a professional tell me this also- that my garden will always have the odd rodent passing through and I needed help for my phobias.

I've now spoken to the landlord above, to a grip of the infestation upstairs, especially before his new tenants move in, he's agreed to treat his flat after I explained his new tenants will only be on his back if they see rodents running around at night and exercise their break clause to move out after 6 months.

Rentokil do a bucket a poison. It’s in little plastic bags, which they take back to their nest. It’s quite effective apparently

Landlord is going down this route, I think he's going to napalm the empty flat with poison this weekend.

The Landlord upstairs needs to get professional advice otherwise the mice will move to the next convenient accomodation or take the poison and die in the walls and floorboards and stink .

They can get through the tiniest gaps !

Get some poison down - in your flat and in your garden - cheap to buy from Ebay.

Don't leave it.

Mice also make noise, it depends on the surface they are walking in and where you hear them from. We had mice in the mouse, managed to seal all the entry points and eventually they would just come into the loft space climding through the gaps in the walls behind the plasterboard but not in any of the actual rooms so not visible, no droppings anything, just the noise (and obviously droppings etc would be out of sight in the loft). It used to drive me mad especially they seemed to come in more when it rained heavily (old detached house in rural area, they live all around in the ground in garden, on the fields etc). Eventually we called a local pest control company, lovely lady that did an amazing job mouse-proofing and trapping. Super good value I thought considering she came 3 times, first to find points of entry and seal, lay traps with bait in loft, a week later to remove the mice caught in the traps and set them again with fresh bait and a month later to check none had been trapped, effectively showing she had closed all entry points successfully. We have not heard a mouse step in 2 years but if they come back I will not hesitate to call her again.

@Stopmotion24

The lady you used sounds great. Can I ask where in the uk you are?