Pest control in Barnet

What is the lie of the land in Barnet?

Chipping Barnet sits on a hill, with the old coaching town along the High Street and the Great North Road. To the south the ground drops into the Dollis Valley, where the Dollis Brook rises near Arkley and runs through meadows and the Dollis Valley Greenwalk towards Totteridge and Finchley. To the east, New Barnet and East Barnet grew around the main line railway, which runs in cuttings and through the tunnels under Hadley Wood. Pymmes Brook starts near Monken Hadley and flows through Oak Hill Park in East Barnet before heading for Edmonton. Cockfosters and Hadley Wood, at the northern edge of EN4, are large detached houses in big gardens against Monken Hadley Common and Trent Park.

Why does the Dollis Valley matter for rats?

Any brook through a town supports rats, and the Dollis Brook runs right through Underhill and the Dollis Valley estate, past allotments, playing fields and the backs of gardens. The estate's regeneration has meant years of building work, which disturbs rat populations and pushes them into neighbouring streets. If your garden in EN5 backs onto the brook, the Greenwalk or an allotment, bird food, compost and chicken runs are the things a controller will ask about first, and proofing the house matters more than treating the garden.

What about the railway lines?

The main line through New Barnet and Hadley Wood, and the Northern line terminus at High Barnet, bring embankments and cuttings into the middle of residential streets. Railway land is cover for rats and foxes and holds wasp nests in the banks each summer. A pest controller can treat your side of the fence but not the railway land itself. If the source is on the line side, the controller may advise reporting it to the railway's owner, which deals with pests on its own land.

What are the homes like?

EN5 mixes Georgian and Victorian houses along Wood Street and the High Street, interwar semis on the slopes towards Arkley and Underhill, and the post-war and present-day housing of the Dollis Valley. EN4 is mostly late Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas in New Barnet and East Barnet, 1930s semis in Cockfosters, and the large houses of Hadley Wood. The older houses have cellars and chimneys, the semis have lofts and soffits, and the newer blocks have shared bin stores and service ducts. In the town centre, flats above shops share walls, roofs and drains with restaurants and takeaways, which is where cockroaches and mice most often start.

I live above a shop in the High Street. Who deals with it?

Tell your landlord in writing. Where mice or cockroaches are coming from the premises below, the business is responsible for keeping pests out of its own premises under food hygiene rules, and your landlord is responsible for the condition of the building. The Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 can apply to a flat made unfit by an infestation the building's condition allows. A pest controller can treat your flat, but a lasting result needs the shop treated as well. This is general information, not legal advice.

Which council covers Barnet?

EN4 and EN5 are in the London Borough of Barnet, apart from the Hadley Wood side of EN4, which is in Enfield. An occupier must notify their council of a substantial number of rats or mice under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949. Check the council's website for whether it offers or charges for treatment. An enquiry here does not count as notifying them.

What helps with a Barnet enquiry?

• what you have seen or heard, and where
• whether the home is near the brook, a railway line, an allotment or a shop
• the age and type of the home, and whether neighbours have mentioned the same
• your postcode and a phone number you answer