How to prevent rats

Rats are attracted by food, so you should remove any possible source of food from your garden and surrounding area.

Follow this advice:

• Keep your garden free of any rubbish. Rats will easily rip open bin bags to look for food. If you regularly have too much waste in your general waste bin, which means the lid is open, then rats will easily get access. If you use your recycling bins to sort your rubbish you should have enough space in your residual black bin.
• If you put out seeds or nuts for birds, clear any leftover food away at the end of the day. Rats tend to leave their nest at night to look for food and will eat any food that falls from bird feeders or tables. Find more helpful hints about bird feeding and avoiding rodents.
• Place all rubbish in your bins and keep the lids closed, particularly the food and garden waste bin and residual waste bin.
• Keep bins away from a fence or wall where possible as rats can climb then jump onto a bin to reach food.
• Rats only need a gap of 15 mm to get through to gain access, so to prevent any access to your house seal up any gaps in walls or around pipes with cement mortar.
• We charge a call-out fee of £54.18 for the pest control service. Charges for treatments for rats and mice, which were previously suspended, restarted on 1 April 2023.

If you see rats or find evidence they might be present at your home, phone us on 0345 143 0015 or report a pest problem.