Cut the food, find the hole, treat, then close it. When the food is on someone else's property, the closing is the part you control.
Remove the food source, identify the entry point, treat, then proof.
Treatment is £190 flat, £240 house. Proofing is £180. Where the food source is on a neighbouring property, proofing is the step that actually protects you.
Rats are where the food is. Deal with your own first — it is free, and it makes the neighbour conversation credible.
A rat needs a gap of about 25mm — roughly a fifty-pence piece.
See our full rat control service, published prices and what treatment involves.
View Rat Control Edgware →Professional treatment covers the property properly, is placed where the activity actually is, and continues across follow-up visits until it stops. Tell us about pets and children — it changes placement, not price.
Small-hole proofing in suitable materials, up to an hour. This is what stops it recurring — and it is the only step that works regardless of what your neighbours do.
Read nextRat Proofing Edgware – What Does £180 Cover? →Common enough in Edgware to deserve its own section.
Most neighbours do not know that a bird feeder, an open compost heap or a neglected corner is feeding rats. A friendly word resolves more of these than anything else, and it costs nothing.
If nothing changes, a short polite note creates a record. Keep a copy.
Many older properties share a drain run. Responsibility for shared and lateral drains often sits with the water company rather than an individual owner — Thames Water is the place to start.
Businesses have duties around waste storage and pest control. A takeaway with an unmanaged bin area behind it is a different conversation from a neighbour with a bird table, and one they are obliged to take seriously.
Barnet Council can be contacted where a property is causing a statutory nuisance. That is a real route and it works better with evidence than without.
A written account of what we found and where it points. That is what turns 'I think it's next door' into something anyone will act on.
Glue traps are restricted in England and their use by the general public is prohibited. They are also indiscriminate and inhumane — they catch pets, birds and hedgehogs, and an animal caught on one is not killed by it. We do not use them.
Droppings settle it. Rat droppings are 12–18mm and tapered; mouse droppings 3–6mm, about a grain of rice.
Not while there is food and shelter.
Two to three weeks typically, longer with an external or shared source.
Different problem, same fixed pricing — wasp nests are £90 in Edgware, guaranteed.
Remove the food source, find the entry point, treat, then proof. Where the food source is on a neighbouring property, proofing is the step that protects you.
Bird feeders. Spilled seed underneath feeds rats all night.
About 25mm — roughly a fifty-pence piece.
Start with a friendly conversation, then put it in writing. Proof your own property, since that is the part within your control.
Responsibility for shared and lateral drains often sits with the water company. Thames Water is the place to start.
Commercial premises have legal duties around waste storage and pest control, and are obliged to take it seriously.
No. They are restricted in England, their use by the general public is prohibited, and they are indiscriminate and inhumane.
No — dampen them first rather than raising dust, and wear gloves.
Deal with your own food sources first. Then tell us what you found — including what is next door.
Prefer to talk? Call 0203 151 6640 or WhatsApp us.
