Neighbour has a forest

Darkhawk

Dear MSE'ers,

I need some advice on how to deal with an issue regarding my neighbour's garden becoming overgrown and the issues that have arisen as a result of it.

My neighbour's garden is a mess. I have learned that it has been this way for 4+ years now after asking the council for help. I describe her garden as a forest because it is severely overgrown. It is even worse than this. The house is basically abandoned as it is owned by a pensioner who is now in care.

As a result of this I have seen foxes taking refuge there. There are numerous huge spiders there too that also keep coming to our side of the property. Lastly and worst of all I have to deal with frequent rat infestations (At-least a new one every week).

I contacted the council and firstly they said that they couldn't do anything as it wasn't council property. They suggested I call pest control and see what they say. Once they saw the property they immediately agreed that the overgrown garden had to be taken care of in order to solve the rat issue. I have forwarded this information on to the council but I have heard nothing yet.

What can I do? There are children in the house and the rats grow more fearless every week. I saw them jump into our fruit basket right in front of me. The traps are not at all effective.

Please help me.

mgdavid

Darkhawk wrote: »

...... the rats grow more fearless every week. I saw them jump into our fruit basket right in front of me. .....

How are the rats getting from next door's garden into inside your house?

Mojisola

Usually the foxes would sort out the rats.

Didn't the pest control people put down poison to kill the rats? They don't usually use traps.

Darkhawk

mgdavid wrote: »

How are the rats getting from next door's garden into inside your house?

Our house is semi-detached, with their house being connected to ours. The rats come through to my garden and then somehow enter through the kitchen.

Mojisola wrote: »

Usually the foxes would sort out the rats.

Didn't the pest control people put down poison to kill the rats? They don't usually use traps.

He recommended I switch from using peanut butter to using chocolate spread as I already had quite a lot of traps at home (Traditional and Electrical).

He did not recommend poison as there is always a chance they might die within our walls.

cardinalbiggles

Darkhawk wrote: »

Our house is semi-detached, with their house being connected to ours. The rats come through to my garden and then somehow enter through the kitchen.

He recommended I switch from using peanut butter to using chocolate spread as I already had quite a lot of traps at home (Traditional and Electrical).

He did not recommend poison as there is always a chance they might die within our walls.

If rats are going into your house its to get food. You must have food lying about unopened or on floors.

As for spiders, you are joking yeah?

unholyangel

OP ignoring everything else, its the councils responsibility. Its their property so it is they who are responsible for its upkeep.

As for rats "somehow" getting in....I've never experienced rats personally but we did get the occasional field mouse....they only need a space big enough for their skull to fit through and they can squeeze their entire body through that same space. Also I've witnessed a mouse scale a glass door and also a 10ft wall.......acrobatic little !!!!!!s so they are.

Poppie68

You can't blame big spiders on your neighbours overgrown garden, sorry OP but that's ridiculous...
Foxes are usually a pretty good deterrent for rats, so the sightings of foxes must be pretty rare,but foxes can take refuge anywhere we have one particularly large one that hides away at the back of our summerhouse.

A quick way to deal with the current rats and put off any new visitors is to get a cat..
In regards to the house.
if the council considered it a hazard they would take action..In the meantime keep an eye out for any possible relative going in as I'm sure someone must visit even if its just to check the post....

Poppie68

unholyangel wrote: »

OP ignoring everything else, its the councils responsibility. Its their property so it is they who are responsible for its upkeep.

As for rats "somehow" getting in....I've never experienced rats personally but we did get the occasional field mouse....they only need a space big enough for their skull to fit through and they can squeeze their entire body through that same space. Also I've witnessed a mouse scale a glass door and also a 10ft wall.......acrobatic little !!!!!!s so they are.

Its not a council property.....

unholyangel

Poppie68 wrote: »

Its not a council property.....

Thanks, I misread the OP! Thought it said they said they couldnt do anything despite it being a council property, whoops.

OP...whoever owns the property is the one who's responsible

sheramber

Have you reported it as an'empty property'.

https://www.croydon.gov.uk/housing/privatehousing/intro

Darkhawk

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

If rats are going into your house its to get food. You must have food lying about unopened or on floors.

As for spiders, you are joking yeah?

My kitchen is very tidy as I schedule the Roomba to run every night. Dishes are washed soon after dinner and the trash is taken outside to the bigger bin. Most food is kept inside plastic containers.

The rat tried to bite through the cabinet where I store snacks and keeps going for my fruit basket (Which I have now gotten rid of). It even goes into our bathrooms and laundry baskets...

In regards to the spiders I didn't really mind at first as I am not really scared of them but now I am quite worried, especially after hearing the stuff about the false widow spiders.

unholyangel wrote: »

As for rats "somehow" getting in....I've never experienced rats personally but we did get the occasional field mouse....they only need a space big enough for their skull to fit through and they can squeeze their entire body through that same space. Also I've witnessed a mouse scale a glass door and also a 10ft wall.......acrobatic little !!!!!!s so they are.

I never knew they could run up things so I was not worried about things stored on tables etc. First time I saw it run up I almost had a heart attack!

Poppie68 wrote: »

You can't blame big spiders on your neighbours overgrown garden, sorry OP but that's ridiculous...
Foxes are usually a pretty good deterrent for rats, so the sightings of foxes must be pretty rare,but foxes can take refuge anywhere we have one particularly large one that hides away at the back of our summerhouse.

A quick way to deal with the current rats and put off any new visitors is to get a cat..
In regards to the house.
if the council considered it a hazard they would take action..In the meantime keep an eye out for any possible relative going in as I'm sure someone must visit even if its just to check the post....

How is it ridiculous to blame their garden for their being tons of spiders on my property? There are loads of spider webs coming from their side. Her garden is a mess. Neither my garden nor the neighbour on the side are untidy.

I don't know about getting a cat to be honest... I would if I could though. I don't know why the council didn't act sooner if they knew it was an ongoing issue for 4+ years. It's crazy.

Also, both her and her child are in care. No other families (As told by person who inspected her property and spoke to her). They have no money to fix it themselves and obviously cannot do it because of their health issues.

sheramber wrote: »

Have you reported it as an'empty property'.

https://www.croydon.gov.uk/housing/privatehousing/intro

I mentioned it when I contacted the council but nothing