Terraced loft rat issues

[hllns]

Hi,

We've got an ongoing rat issue in the loft on our 50s mid-terrace property. With the help of a rat man and his bait trays the number of rats have been greatly reduced but the issue of how to block access from the HMO rental next-door is giving a slight issue. The soffits on next-door are in a sorry state and there's a visible hole from the outside that looks like you could fit a rat through it so this is also possibly a route of entry from outside.

We thought they were coming through to ours from next door as we've heard gnawing that sounds like it's coming from the other side of the wall and the rat guy has confirmed our suspicions. There's a few issues, the sarking has dropped down from the party wall and looking at old photos this damage isn't new, we've not had any leaks but you can clearly see a set of gaps between the battens (as shown) going over the top of the party wall all the way down to the eaves which looks like it's may have created a rat superhighway of sorts.

I've rung the agent for next door to try and encourage them to do their bit but it's been an uphill struggle.

Do I try to block each of the small gaps with wire mesh/wool? Do I/someone else try and fit mesh between the wall and the rafter top to bottom? The difficulty is that the eaves are very tight so it might be tricky to either of these all the way to the bottom potentially making the whole effort pointless.

 

[GillObrien]

Our neighbours had a similar problem, but coming up through the drains. They sealed everything off with mesh etc but they still made their way in. It only stopped once the property next door dealt with the issue. If they don't respond you can always contact the Environmental Health department at the Council, or threaten to, which would move things along.

Good luck!

 

[Old Salt]

Get the council Environmental Health involved, they can shut the HMO down if they fail to take action. Alternatively let the agent for next door know they have 7 days to take action before you involve environmental health. Sometimes these people need a rocket up their jacksey.

 

[hllns]

Plot twist is that in the last couple of weeks they've started on extensive building work to convert from HMO to house/family let including new waste pipe and moving the combi to their loft.

I went round to visit when the builder and a guy in a suit was there after they'd finished for the day and the builder said there's no droppings so they don't think there's rats in that loft despite the squeeze marks in their direction spotted by the rat guy and the hand sized hole in their soffit. There's no visible droppings on my side either but there's definitely rats!

The building work does seems to have upset the balance of things and we're down to one squeaky nuisance who's still limping by for their last few doses of bait, if they fix the soffit that might be enough so watch this space.