Rats Coming Into My Garden From a Neighbour’s Property: What Can I Do?

Finding rats in your garden is unpleasant enough, but what happens when you believe they’re coming from a neighbour’s property?

If rats appear to be originating from next door, the best first step is usually to speak to your neighbour. They may not know there is a problem and could already be taking steps to deal with it.

Speak to Your Neighbour

Have a polite conversation and explain what you’ve noticed. Look for signs such as burrows, droppings, damaged rubbish bags or rats regularly travelling between the two properties.

Working together can often solve the problem much faster than dealing with each garden separately.

Protect Your Own Property

Even if the source appears to be next door, there are several things you can do to make your property less attractive to rats:

• Keep bins securely closed

• Don’t leave food or pet food outside

• Remove rubbish and garden clutter

• Avoid leaving accessible bird food on the ground

• Seal potential entry points around pipes, walls and outbuildings

• Repair gaps where rats could enter your home

Rats can squeeze through surprisingly small spaces, so check around the exterior of your property carefully.

What If Your Neighbour Won’t Do Anything?

If you’ve spoken to your neighbour and the problem continues, you can contact your local council for advice.

Depending on the circumstances, the council’s environmental health or pest control team may be able to investigate, particularly where an infestation is creating a wider public health or environmental problem.

Consider Professional Pest Control

If you’re regularly seeing rats, finding burrows or noticing signs that they’ve entered your home, consider contacting a professional pest controller.

Simply dealing with individual rats may not solve the problem if food, shelter or access points remain available.

The key is to identify why the rats are there, where they’re coming from and what is attracting them. Removing those conditions gives you the best chance of preventing them from returning.