Rats from neighbours garden

meg00

At the fence at the bottom of my garden is a house which stands about 50 metres below us. They have done nothing with it for 2 years, (they used have a company in twice a year to strim it, but no longer bother even with this).

I am fighting a losing battle with weeds coming through and an infestation of rats - they have at least two nests on their side. We have spent over £200 on rat bait, but they still come. I no longer let the kids play in the garden due to the possibility of infection. I have had rats on my balcony even.

The weeds and nettles are now growing 3 metres high. It is a not a council house.

Is there anything I can do?.

goldfinches

Is there anyone living there at the moment? If so, are you able to call round for a chat?
If there is someone living there who's disinclined or unable to do the garden, could you offer to help?
Your other alternative would be to spray systemic weed killer over the fence and then wait for the vegetation to die off but that would leave dead material that the rats would probably continue to nest in. 

Falafels

Firstly, contact your local authority. Part of their remit is to control certain hazards, and rats are among them. They have powers to deal with it; more here: http://www.problemneighbours.co.uk/dealing-with-infestation.html

Good luck!

Jaybee_16

When I moved into my last property, the neighbour never lived there, just visited once a month to check on the place, then stopped visiting altogether. The place was unattended for over 20 years.
The back garden had brambles about 6 feet high all over and rats began to appear.
I phoned the council who sent someone to look at the mess. They contacted the owner to clear it all and sort out the rat problem but he left the Council to do it and send him the bill. 

twopenny

Rats like a rat run and cover, preferably dark.

Can you keep your fence clear of plants and put up some cheap solar fence lights to deter them at night?

But the council route sound best. If the neighbour is creating an ongoing problem that they have to deal with then they will eventually be having words with them as it's spending public money and creating a health hazzard.

Davesnave

Rats may be living there securely, but if the property is empty, their food is coming from elsewhere, quite possibly people feeding birds or similar.

We have 1/4 acre of wild land for wildlife, next door to which is a barn full of thatching reed and not far from there are the chickens we own. There aren't many rats because people are careful and there's no easy food supply. I've yet to see a live one and we've been here 12 years now.

BlackCat1983

Coucil house of not im pretty sure the council will be able to help, we had a rat problem last year as live close to a big pond and think they were coming from around there. Some other things that helped included taking down our bird feeder as one afternoon I looked out my kitchen window to see a huge rat dangling down from the bird feeder.. Also cats can help deter rats even their scent can scare rats away, my cat is an indoor cat so don't think he did much to keep get rid of the rats but may have prevented them coming inside thank god. 

Hope you manage to sort this

[Deleted User]

I have 3 gardens in the local vicinity that are rat houses, all the neighbours complain but none do anything more than that i've contacted the council but i haven't seen any action by homeowners to clear their overgrown gardens.

The home owners don't, won't, tend, or tidy, their gardens so the things abound, they feed the birds though because they "like to see them".

I don't like things that scuttle or slither so no birds are fed here anymore.

Davesnave

Bird feeders needn't create a problem, but of course they can. A lady I did some watering for a while ago had a horrifying amount of rancid bird food under her bird table and said a near neighbour was always complaining of rats. As her neighbour is  one of my my least favourite persons, I was pleased, but he had a point.

Looking under our bird feeders today, I see no detritus at all. That's because the dunnocks, sparrows and doves have cleared up behind the birds that arrived in the early morning to eat from the seed feeders or fat balls. I'm not sure what huge quantity we'd have to put out there for stuff to remain and go bad, but clearly the tendency to over-feed and waste is there in some people. Maybe not having a flat table for the food helps, as only small amounts are accessed/dropped at each visit. At this time of year we still work on the Asda principle: when it's gone, it's gone!

silverwhistle

I've a wild area at the bottom of my garden which includes ideal rat territory in having wood piles and log stores but although I have mice I've yet to see a rat. On one side of my terrace house they have a small Dachsund and on the other a Bedlington Terrier and two cats, one of which is a right stalker. Have seen her white muzzle red with pigeon blood, although she met her match with a mischief of magpies who mobbed her but she saw off a young fox one night.

So maybe getting a Jack Russell might help?!