Rodents from next door
Discussion
A couple of months ago I heard scratching noises in my house, and a mate who visited said it sounded like when he had squirrels in his loft.
Anyway a few weeks later I found a dead rat in my loft, so I spoke to my next door neighbour who said she had heard movement under her kitchen floor.
So I called out a pest control firm who put poison in my loft, and we spoke to next door again - she admitted she had never heard anything until she got her rabbits (FFS).
There was a gap under the floor slab at the rear of her property near to where it adjoins mine (quite close to the rabbit cages) and my pest control operative described the cages as a 24/7 buffet! I have a soil stack in the corner of my kitchen serving the bathroom above and the rats seem to have got into the bottom of that from the void under the concrete floor.
Next door is rented so she had spoken to the managing agents who sent their own pest control firm out who put poison in the gap below the floor slab and left 3 traps in the garden. Latest is I haven't heard anything and next door says it is all clear and the traps are to be removed and the gap filled in (although she is now terminating her tenancy at the end of February). At least the rabbits will go with her!
Do I have any recourse to recover the cost of instructing my own pest control contractor, and if so against whom (tenant, managing agent or owner)?
Makes me realise that next time I buy I need to find out which houses are owner occupied and which are rented, and ideally buy detached!
Any guidance/advice would be much appreciated - thanks!
Anyway a few weeks later I found a dead rat in my loft, so I spoke to my next door neighbour who said she had heard movement under her kitchen floor.
So I called out a pest control firm who put poison in my loft, and we spoke to next door again - she admitted she had never heard anything until she got her rabbits (FFS).
There was a gap under the floor slab at the rear of her property near to where it adjoins mine (quite close to the rabbit cages) and my pest control operative described the cages as a 24/7 buffet! I have a soil stack in the corner of my kitchen serving the bathroom above and the rats seem to have got into the bottom of that from the void under the concrete floor.
Next door is rented so she had spoken to the managing agents who sent their own pest control firm out who put poison in the gap below the floor slab and left 3 traps in the garden. Latest is I haven't heard anything and next door says it is all clear and the traps are to be removed and the gap filled in (although she is now terminating her tenancy at the end of February). At least the rabbits will go with her!
Do I have any recourse to recover the cost of instructing my own pest control contractor, and if so against whom (tenant, managing agent or owner)?
Makes me realise that next time I buy I need to find out which houses are owner occupied and which are rented, and ideally buy detached!
Any guidance/advice would be much appreciated - thanks!
You would only be able to recover your costs if you were renting yourself and that would've been from your own landlord. Dealing with pests, be they rats, mice, wasps or whatever, is part and parcel of owning a house; if you wish for someone else to stump up for those costs, you need to rent.
As an aside, a detached house is no guarantee against rats or mice either.
As an aside, a detached house is no guarantee against rats or mice either.
TooMany2cvs said:
Ozzie Osmond said:
I don't have renting neighbours with rabbits.
I do have occasional issues with mice and squirrels.
Who can I blame?
Likewise, but I know the exact source of the mice and birds we get in the house. The cat brings 'em in.I do have occasional issues with mice and squirrels.
Who can I blame?
Can I sue it?
Rangeroverover said:
Just by a full on "family pack" of rat poison and put it everywhere that dogs (maybe cats) cannot get at, under drains, in air bricks, under floors.
Do it winter and the stinky phase doesn't last too long
This would work. Maybe your neighbour will half the costs also.Do it winter and the stinky phase doesn't last too long
So a friend of mine had a cat which came home one night rather bedraggled and having a bloated stomach. Cue a three figure vets bill to remove unidentified animal parts form its intestines. Next day little girl from next door knocks on door - 'has any one seen Flopsy my pet rabbit, it has disappeared from it cage ?' Should my friend have sued next door for the vets bill?
O/t but...
A mate of mine found his dog playing with a bedraggled dead rabbit, which he recognised as being next doors pet. He also knew they were on holiday.
Shamefully, he washed the rabbit and placed it back in the hutch.
All went well until neighbours return, cue shrieking and wailing from next door.
Next time he saw the neighbour he enquired whether they had had a good holiday. Perplexed neighbour said they had, but the rabbit who had died and been buried just before they left, had somehow reappeared in the hutch by the time they returned!
A mate of mine found his dog playing with a bedraggled dead rabbit, which he recognised as being next doors pet. He also knew they were on holiday.
Shamefully, he washed the rabbit and placed it back in the hutch.
All went well until neighbours return, cue shrieking and wailing from next door.
Next time he saw the neighbour he enquired whether they had had a good holiday. Perplexed neighbour said they had, but the rabbit who had died and been buried just before they left, had somehow reappeared in the hutch by the time they returned!
XCP said:
O/t but...
A mate of mine found his dog playing with a bedraggled dead rabbit, which he recognised as being next doors pet. He also knew they were on holiday.
Shamefully, he washed the rabbit and placed it back in the hutch.
All went well until neighbours return, cue shrieking and wailing from next door.
Next time he saw the neighbour he enquired whether they had had a good holiday. Perplexed neighbour said they had, but the rabbit who had died and been buried just before they left, had somehow reappeared in the hutch by the time they returned!
O/T....A mate of mine found his dog playing with a bedraggled dead rabbit, which he recognised as being next doors pet. He also knew they were on holiday.
Shamefully, he washed the rabbit and placed it back in the hutch.
All went well until neighbours return, cue shrieking and wailing from next door.
Next time he saw the neighbour he enquired whether they had had a good holiday. Perplexed neighbour said they had, but the rabbit who had died and been buried just before they left, had somehow reappeared in the hutch by the time they returned!
...and B/S.
XCP said:
O/t but...
A mate of mine found his dog playing with a bedraggled dead rabbit, which he recognised as being next doors pet. He also knew they were on holiday.
Shamefully, he washed the rabbit and placed it back in the hutch.
All went well until neighbours return, cue shrieking and wailing from next door.
Next time he saw the neighbour he enquired whether they had had a good holiday. Perplexed neighbour said they had, but the rabbit who had died and been buried just before they left, had somehow reappeared in the hutch by the time they returned!
First heard on Simon Mayos confessions circa 1988A mate of mine found his dog playing with a bedraggled dead rabbit, which he recognised as being next doors pet. He also knew they were on holiday.
Shamefully, he washed the rabbit and placed it back in the hutch.
All went well until neighbours return, cue shrieking and wailing from next door.
Next time he saw the neighbour he enquired whether they had had a good holiday. Perplexed neighbour said they had, but the rabbit who had died and been buried just before they left, had somehow reappeared in the hutch by the time they returned!
QuickQuack said:
You would only be able to recover your costs if you were renting yourself and that would've been from your own landlord. Dealing with pests, be they rats, mice, wasps or whatever, is part and parcel of owning a house; if you wish for someone else to stump up for those costs, you need to rent.
Thanks, I was just wondering as I've not encountered this before - just hope the next tenant doesn't have any rabbits! To be honest the landlord may not have been too keen if he had known they were running around in the living room at times!
QuickQuack said:
As an aside, a detached house is no guarantee against rats or mice either.
I appreciate that, but at least you hopefully have a bit more control over how they get access.Sorry about the slightly sarky first reply, I really should've been sleeping instead of buggering about on the net! But unfortunately it is rather true that these things are part and parcel of property ownership and there are no laws to protect you from the stupidity of others when it comes to these things.
Getting back to detached houses. Well, you have the illusion of control, but in reality, only have a little
that's from personal experience. More so in town where there are for more rats but even in the countryside you're not fully protected. We have a large detached house and live in a small village. At first I thought exactly the same as you do at present, that I could control what living being came into the house. I've now realised that there are some simple things you can do to reduce the chances, but the buggers will get through something at some point. I thought it was because ours was an old house (>275 years old) and a bit on the large side but my best mate who has a modern house has had more problems from rat damage than we have - we have been lucky enough not to have rats, but have had mice, rabbits and a few other things. A detached house is great for many other reasons, but they're not any less penetrable to rodents than a semi or a terraced, especially in town. Brand new ones might be your best bet in this regard.
A few hints with your current woes:
Rats are clever b
ds, and are almost never caught by traps. If one is caught, a rare event in itself, the rest of the colony - there's always a colony - learns immediately and don't go anywhere near traps. Poison and shooting are your best bets. Luckily haven't had them in the house but I had to learn to deal with them for other reasons. If you don't have any kids, you can get a cheap air rifle for hunting rats. If anyone is advocating using traps for rats, they don't understand rats at all and I would suggest finding someone else for advice (I know a lot about rat biology...).
Mice are pretty dumb and like chocolates in the traps. Poison is less effective, best bet is killing with proper traps. Humane traps are less than useless, you need to drive them several miles from your house for them not to be able to get back to you in one night. They're our biggest problem and especially in autumn/winter when they're trying to find somewhere warm to nest rather than the fields they usually inhabit.
The gaps between your house and your neighbour's sound like they might be able to be blocked by copious amounts of steel wool which you can get very cheaply from your local hardware shop. Think of it a bit like loft insulation but with steel wire which rodents don't like chewing through (although they can...). If not steel wool, you might be able to protect your stack with wire mesh (needs to be metal, not plastic). Have a look at some rat cages in pet shops to get a feeling of the size restriction you need to stop rats.
Use steel wool to block behind vent bricks etc. so that they still function as a vent but reduce the chances of rodents penetrating.
You have no hope with bats which we also have; they're legally protected. You do get used to them after a while and they do eat thousands of insects a night
Hope these help a bit and the bint next door buggers off soon!
Getting back to detached houses. Well, you have the illusion of control, but in reality, only have a little
that's from personal experience. More so in town where there are for more rats but even in the countryside you're not fully protected. We have a large detached house and live in a small village. At first I thought exactly the same as you do at present, that I could control what living being came into the house. I've now realised that there are some simple things you can do to reduce the chances, but the buggers will get through something at some point. I thought it was because ours was an old house (>275 years old) and a bit on the large side but my best mate who has a modern house has had more problems from rat damage than we have - we have been lucky enough not to have rats, but have had mice, rabbits and a few other things. A detached house is great for many other reasons, but they're not any less penetrable to rodents than a semi or a terraced, especially in town. Brand new ones might be your best bet in this regard.A few hints with your current woes:
Rats are clever b
ds, and are almost never caught by traps. If one is caught, a rare event in itself, the rest of the colony - there's always a colony - learns immediately and don't go anywhere near traps. Poison and shooting are your best bets. Luckily haven't had them in the house but I had to learn to deal with them for other reasons. If you don't have any kids, you can get a cheap air rifle for hunting rats. If anyone is advocating using traps for rats, they don't understand rats at all and I would suggest finding someone else for advice (I know a lot about rat biology...).Mice are pretty dumb and like chocolates in the traps. Poison is less effective, best bet is killing with proper traps. Humane traps are less than useless, you need to drive them several miles from your house for them not to be able to get back to you in one night. They're our biggest problem and especially in autumn/winter when they're trying to find somewhere warm to nest rather than the fields they usually inhabit.
The gaps between your house and your neighbour's sound like they might be able to be blocked by copious amounts of steel wool which you can get very cheaply from your local hardware shop. Think of it a bit like loft insulation but with steel wire which rodents don't like chewing through (although they can...). If not steel wool, you might be able to protect your stack with wire mesh (needs to be metal, not plastic). Have a look at some rat cages in pet shops to get a feeling of the size restriction you need to stop rats.
Use steel wool to block behind vent bricks etc. so that they still function as a vent but reduce the chances of rodents penetrating.
You have no hope with bats which we also have; they're legally protected. You do get used to them after a while and they do eat thousands of insects a night
Hope these help a bit and the bint next door buggers off soon!
Ooh, forgot to add. It may well be worth letting the landlord know if the tenants are wrecking the place, inside or outside, and most definitely if they're a nuisance. As a landlord, it's always worth getting on with the owners of next door properties they may well not be aware of the damage to their property and should appreciate the information.
they may well not be aware of the damage to their property and should appreciate the information.QuickQuack said:
Sorry about the slightly sarky first reply, I really should've been sleeping instead of buggering about on the net! But unfortunately it is rather true that these things are part and parcel of property ownership and there are no laws to protect you from the stupidity of others when it comes to these things.
Getting back to detached houses. Well, you have the illusion of control, but in reality, only have a little that's from personal experience. More so in town where there are for more rats but even in the countryside you're not fully protected. We have a large detached house and live in a small village. At first I thought exactly the same as you do at present, that I could control what living being came into the house. I've now realised that there are some simple things you can do to reduce the chances, but the buggers will get through something at some point. I thought it was because ours was an old house (>275 years old) and a bit on the large side but my best mate who has a modern house has had more problems from rat damage than we have - we have been lucky enough not to have rats, but have had mice, rabbits and a few other things. A detached house is great for many other reasons, but they're not any less penetrable to rodents than a semi or a terraced, especially in town. Brand new ones might be your best bet in this regard.
A few hints with your current woes:
Rats are clever bds, and are almost never caught by traps. If one is caught, a rare event in itself, the rest of the colony - there's always a colony - learns immediately and don't go anywhere near traps. Poison and shooting are your best bets. Luckily haven't had them in the house but I had to learn to deal with them for other reasons. If you don't have any kids, you can get a cheap air rifle for hunting rats. If anyone is advocating using traps for rats, they don't understand rats at all and I would suggest finding someone else for advice (I know a lot about rat biology...).
Mice are pretty dumb and like chocolates in the traps. Poison is less effective, best bet is killing with proper traps. Humane traps are less than useless, you need to drive them several miles from your house for them not to be able to get back to you in one night. They're our biggest problem and especially in autumn/winter when they're trying to find somewhere warm to nest rather than the fields they usually inhabit.
The gaps between your house and your neighbour's sound like they might be able to be blocked by copious amounts of steel wool which you can get very cheaply from your local hardware shop. Think of it a bit like loft insulation but with steel wire which rodents don't like chewing through (although they can...). If not steel wool, you might be able to protect your stack with wire mesh (needs to be metal, not plastic). Have a look at some rat cages in pet shops to get a feeling of the size restriction you need to stop rats.
Use steel wool to block behind vent bricks etc. so that they still function as a vent but reduce the chances of rodents penetrating.
You have no hope with bats which we also have; they're legally protected. You do get used to them after a while and they do eat thousands of insects a night
Hope these help a bit and the bint next door buggers off soon!
No problem, yours was probably the least sarky response I got!Getting back to detached houses. Well, you have the illusion of control, but in reality, only have a little
that's from personal experience. More so in town where there are for more rats but even in the countryside you're not fully protected. We have a large detached house and live in a small village. At first I thought exactly the same as you do at present, that I could control what living being came into the house. I've now realised that there are some simple things you can do to reduce the chances, but the buggers will get through something at some point. I thought it was because ours was an old house (>275 years old) and a bit on the large side but my best mate who has a modern house has had more problems from rat damage than we have - we have been lucky enough not to have rats, but have had mice, rabbits and a few other things. A detached house is great for many other reasons, but they're not any less penetrable to rodents than a semi or a terraced, especially in town. Brand new ones might be your best bet in this regard.A few hints with your current woes:
Rats are clever b
ds, and are almost never caught by traps. If one is caught, a rare event in itself, the rest of the colony - there's always a colony - learns immediately and don't go anywhere near traps. Poison and shooting are your best bets. Luckily haven't had them in the house but I had to learn to deal with them for other reasons. If you don't have any kids, you can get a cheap air rifle for hunting rats. If anyone is advocating using traps for rats, they don't understand rats at all and I would suggest finding someone else for advice (I know a lot about rat biology...).Mice are pretty dumb and like chocolates in the traps. Poison is less effective, best bet is killing with proper traps. Humane traps are less than useless, you need to drive them several miles from your house for them not to be able to get back to you in one night. They're our biggest problem and especially in autumn/winter when they're trying to find somewhere warm to nest rather than the fields they usually inhabit.
The gaps between your house and your neighbour's sound like they might be able to be blocked by copious amounts of steel wool which you can get very cheaply from your local hardware shop. Think of it a bit like loft insulation but with steel wire which rodents don't like chewing through (although they can...). If not steel wool, you might be able to protect your stack with wire mesh (needs to be metal, not plastic). Have a look at some rat cages in pet shops to get a feeling of the size restriction you need to stop rats.
Use steel wool to block behind vent bricks etc. so that they still function as a vent but reduce the chances of rodents penetrating.
You have no hope with bats which we also have; they're legally protected. You do get used to them after a while and they do eat thousands of insects a night
Hope these help a bit and the bint next door buggers off soon!
I am wondering about expanding foam filler (given the health warnings on the tube I would have thought rodents would not like it) - do you know if it is effective?
Glad I don't have bats, but from my limited knowledge they don't sh*t or die in your loft (the smell of a dead rat days after its demise is the worst smell I have ever experienced)!
Expanding foam filler is of very little use in stopping rats, I'm afraid. Even steel wool isn't 100% effective, best is thick metal mesh like the cages are made out of. If you're in Northants, I have an old mesh fireguard you can have which could be useful. You can cut out a piece to make a grate at the entrance to the stack, then fill behind with the foam to hold it in place, and voila, your own rat excluder depending on the distance between the grills, an old BBQ grill or something like that would also do the job. Rats are a real pain.
depending on the distance between the grills, an old BBQ grill or something like that would also do the job. Rats are a real pain. Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff