Rats in loft - semi detached

[BollockstoThis1]

We live in a 1930’s semi lived here ages.

Have rats in loft but can hear them in other rooms. We have shelled out a fair amount with a private pest person. First came out a couple of weeks ago and put poison down (several times charging us an excessive amount each visit). We could have done this ourselves but I am absolutely terrified and DH is in poor health.

The noises are loud, terrifying and really disturbing in our bedroom and I can’t sleep or if I do the noise is so bad it wakes me up. Long story we advised neighbours but its taken them two weeks to act, admitted heard noises and had put own poison down but were waiting to see what happened?!?

Anyway they eventually agreed to getting someone to check both properties and the upshot is they have a damaged drain, ours is ok. Man thinks rats are coming up from sewer entering at neighbours house side and have created a run between the two houses. They are extremely noisy in our loft which is directly above our bedroom and and in the cavity walls. Whereas they have quietened down in neighbours house so they are ok. Its so distressing and noisy I am really stressed, can’t sleep and I am struggling to function. I also hate cats so please don’t suggest that. I have made myself worse by looking into things online.

What is the next move please? They haven’t produced a report and I don’t think they will its just verbal but what happens next. They spoke to us individually but spoke to neighbour first before visiting us. He said to us he thinks our drains are fine and thinks rats are entering via neighbours drain and house then going between both properties.

Unsure whether neighbour will take any action with drains or how long it will take them to do anything since they are now less affected than we are?!? We could be shelling out for ever more, permanently living in fear, goodness knows what damage they have already done up there or will do before they finish and I really don’t know how much more I can take of this so please be kind.

We rarely see our neighbours but how do we broach the subject if we see them on the front re: drain repair, stress the urgency of the situation whilst keeping them on side. If they don’t acknowledge this or refuse to act promptly or at all can we go to environmental health or similar? Obviously this is a last resort but I am almost there. I feel like moving house or running away.

Our council will visit and they will also charge and this could be our next move. This man spoke to DH as I was at work but said didn’t think we should have anymore problems but assume that is only the case if neighbours actually acknowledge and rectify the drain issue promptly?

They usually only hang around if there’s food, so what is around for them? Someone feeding the birds, compost heap, open bins?

Unless camara's have been used to check drains, you cannot be certain where the rats are coming from.

Rats will hang around if they have warmth and shelter, they can go out for the food.

If enough of the right poison is put down, then the rats will be killed and good pest control will stop more coming into the property or at least tell you for certain where.

You should also try and remove any dead rats, the pest control should do this if you pay them!!

If they are coming from the neighbours house, then it may well be worth mentioning to them that rats can destroy their electrical wiring, irrespective of if they can hear them or not.

at this point, you both need to go 50/50 on the costs too.

We had similar, living in a terrace house. Rat man thought they were getting in both from drains and end of terrace house which is rented and falling into disrepair.

However Ratman put poison in our loft twice, which was enough to get rid of them for two years.

Recently they've returned but this time middle house noticed problem. They've put poison down and we've not had any issues in our house.

Don't panic if drains mentioned - we never did anything except initial set of poison in loft and kitchen, that was sufficient.

Thanks all.

@GPTec1 the first man was next to useless all he did was put poison down in the loft after having a quick look around and spend two minutes outside on the first occasion and legged it. The second occasion he said two pieces of poison had gone, no bodies and he put some more down and legged it. Said he couldn’t see where they were coming from or going to and that was it. He didn’t bother checking the drains. Also said we should have no further trouble and they would most likely go off once they had consumed the poison.

@DustyLee123 I don’t know whether this is true but the last man reckons the rats are from the sewers, accessing our properties via next doors drains and using both properties as a play area scrambling around the loft and cavities and going back to the sewers to feed on scraps of food etc etc. He put poison in the loft and drains of both properties. He did ours for good measure but couldn’t see any signs. But he said he could see evidence of rats in next doors drains and said he had advised them to get it looked at but it wasn’t about pointing the finger. He said now they are in no way could we stop them coming from next door into our property as well.

Ourselves and the adjoining neighbours aren’t feeding them in that they haven’t touched food in either or our houses, neither of us have a compost heap/bin/open bin or feed the birds.

Anyone any advice on how to broach this effects but tactfully.

Or how long rats take to die or go from our house if they are going to die or go after effectively three lots of professional poison now?

Or will we never get rid of them until neighbour fixes drains? By then I will likely be divorced, jobless, penniless, homeless and rocking in a corner.

If there's a shed or compost heap, they both need checking too. Get rid of bird feeders.

Poison in drains, check garden for rat runs. Lay traps with peanut butter. They maybe getting into kitchen at night.

@BollockstoThis1 Bait should not able to be moved by the rat, otherwise they just store it and don't eat it, often for quite some time.

They will also ignore bait they cannot easily move until they are sure its ok, they avoid anything new, inc traps.

Yes a lot of pest control people have just done a Lantra poisons course and little else.

Rats will look for water if they eat poison, so can leave your house, if they don't the smell can be awful.

If it were me, i'd go down the "rats can destroy both of our electrical wiring, costly and a fire risk" route with your neighbour & broken drains can flood, as debris can get trapped.

@justasking111 they have a compost heap not food just garden stuff in a garden just behind both our properties the garden is a mess and think they like everything au natural and have a reputation for being very unreasonable according to another neighbour (I have never seen them as the back fences are quite high and another garden not too far away owned by a very old lady in her 90’s its very over grown with large shrubs. She has a gardner but he seems to just tickle it.

Thanks @GPTec1 judging by other projects he will ask someone from work for advice and try solve it as quickly and cheaply and un thoroughly as possible. Next doors garden also has a lot of debris and is unfinished in the back and front so I am not hopeful.

If it's definitely their drain, a trap can be fitted in the sewer - it stops rats (and excess rainwater) from entering the drain immediately into property, but lets water and waste leave. The pest man fitted one for my Mum when she had this problem. Might be worth having a word with nextdoor to see if they'll go 50/50 to have one fitted on their side, and maybe having one on your side.

I've just had a pest problem. I didn't know for sure whether it was rats or mice, although suspected mice based on the droppings. I called out the council pest control just to be on the safe side and they told me over the phone when I paid them to come out that if it was rats then there would be an additional fee as they'd need to do a drain survey and give a notice to repair on whichever property the rats were gaining access from.

Luckily for me it turned out it was just a random mouse that perhaps my cat brought in and I only needed the 2 visits I'd paid for to confirm no more activity. I don't think the previous advice you've been given about rats needing a food source is accurate. That's not what I was told anyway - although I'm no expert of rat behaviour.

If you look at your local council website and search for pest control there should be some advice on there hopefully. Where I live anyone can pay for the council pest control to come out and advise and treat, and I did find them to be pretty thorough. She checked where I'd seen activity with a torch (under the kitchen units), looked in the cellar, did a perimeter check looking for signs of entry and then laid down poison. She confirmed mice though as I'd deliberately not disturbed the "crime scene" so to speak by taking off the baseboards and cleaning up. I know that sounds disgusting but I left it all until she'd been so she could look for and identify the droppings.

So much contradictory information, advice and products out there and online and from so called pest experts. My head is done in and I am exhausted and at my wits end with the stress and nearly two weeks of virtually no sleep.

Thanks @Iliketulips unfortunately we don’t know for definite we can only go on what pest man suspects. I wish we had gone to the council now and that might still be the next step. But thought it more important to get next door on board to tackle it both sides it could be tricky if they aren’t and think its resolved. The other reason we didn’t was as some of our council workers have a bad reputation of being lazy and slap dash@Fallenangelofthenorth also i did phone them but could only get to speak to a pest controller just a general admin/receptionist who didn’t know anything and couldn’t put us in touch with anyone. Thats interesting about the council. Our council has limited information on the website only the price which includes two visits.

Hi, we have had 4 years of rat problems coming from under neighbours conservatory. They said they were getting into their kitchen cupboards under sink but didn’t sort the entry point out properly so rats got into cavity wall, loft and then into ours. Our neighbour is useless and doesn’t see why it’s a problem. We sealed every tiny hole in the adjoining wall in the loft with wire wool and expanding foam. Fingers crossed all ok so far.
The noise when you’re in bed is horrendous and soo stressful. I feel for you, hope you get it sorted out soon. Take care

Fingers crossed we haven’t seen or heard anything for a few months. Neighbour kept saying we haven’t heard anything as he was reluctant to spend any time or money solving the problem his inept builders created but finally he did. I would have been insane if he didn’t finally sort it when he did.

I hope you don't have any more problems. We have same problem. Live in a 1930 semidetached. Hear loud noises one night and stuck a camera in the attic and seen a large rat. Cue operation Ratgate, had drains inspected with camera, put multiple motion sensor cameras in all areas of house, behind kick boards, under stairs all corners of the attic, set traps, inspected whole external of house from foundation to chimney pots - like proper overkill. Nothing on any cameras and they pick up any movement (spiders, small flecks of dust mostly set them off). Still heard the odd small noise and creak then one night heard some scratching and were able to see a small mouse, which we haven't seen again. So then we though problem resolved, the one sighting of a rat might have been a one off, and the other follow up noises were just a mouse, which would not be uncommon for most houses really. So happy days, then last night, a month later, picked up on video another rat. Its right above our bedroom, so the nois it makes from a mouse is much louder and heavier. So back to square one.

But you are right no matter what precautions and measures you take, the weak spot is always the other half if the semi. You can do nearly everything physically possible, but because you share a cavity with next door, if they don't sort out their issue, nearly all your work is pointless.

I'm in a terrace, in am area known for issues with rats. My more elderly neighbours consider it to be no problem nor does the man who owns a couple of hmos in our row. I ended up with two different rat men, one put no return valves on all my drains. The other repeatedly put bait down. Nothing worked till landlords tenant moved out due to the rats nest in his house and he finally dealt with it. I also got the water board out to bit the sewers and check for damage

Another potential food source not mentioned in this thread is sink macerators - I read some advice to avoid using these like the plague (pun intended) as rats will follow the smell to get as close as possible to the source of food