now complete happy days

Please note first two pictures are of the neighbours garden :((((

Sorry to hear your trouble Mark with rats from your neighbours . If their property is owned they would have to pay for a council rat man. Could you not put rat poison or traps in your shed / garden to deter them. I would be washing my hands if I touched any thing in the garden every time if you have rats coming in the disease they carry in their urine as they urinate all the time they can not hold it in.

I think I would do a seating area with a little water feature and a few potted plants hanging from the fences or a growing wall and a few nice palms on the floor.

I think a water feature & rats are not a good idea, rats need to drink as well as "nice" creatures and water. as we all know, attracts wild life and you cannot pick & choose what that is
Rats loved my pond, as did next door's cat

Unfortunately, very effective rat poison is no longer available to general public due to over use & rats becoming immune, or at least tolerating poison

You could try some but I found it took ages & I was never sure it really worked, I found layers of very small hole close wire mesh stopped them getting where i didn't want them

I never tried break back traps, but if you are not squeamish about emptying them I guess they could work

Yes grandad g you are correct rats wanting to drink so water feature us out Mark sorry.

O dear, how nasty!
Maybe you could bite the bullet and for starters get rid of absolutely everything you don't need, to give them less incentive to come. Do you know anyone with a keen terrier? If so he might be willing to give the dog a treat - hey are brilliant rat catchers.

Wow... that's quite a challenging space..