Why rats end up in the drains in the first place
Many parts of Yorkshire's drainage network are old, and older clay drainage is especially vulnerable to movement, cracking, open joints and redundant connections. Rats live in the sewer network as a matter of course. The question is not whether rats are down there - it is whether your private drainage gives them a route up into the property.
The defects we look for again and again on rat-ingress jobs include broken interceptor traps in older inspection chambers, displaced joints or open sockets in clay runs, redundant drains left open underground after old outbuildings or outside toilets were removed, cracked or collapsed sections that open into the surrounding soil, and disconnected branches behind bathroom or kitchen refits. Any one of those defects can become a permanent route into the building.
When to book a rat drain survey
Pest control isn't holding.
You have had bait laid, possibly more than once, but activity returns within weeks. That pattern often points to a structural ingress route that pest treatment alone cannot fix.
You can hear scratching in walls, ceilings or under floors.
Rats can follow drain runs into cavities, voids and spaces below suspended floors. If you can hear them inside the building, there is a route in and the drainage is one of the first places to check.
There are droppings in the cellar, cupboard or under the stairs.
This is common in older terraces and converted properties where original drainage still runs beneath or close to the building.
Your council, landlord, managing agent or pest controller has asked for evidence.
A coded MSCC5 report with footage can help show whether there is a drainage defect, where it sits and what repair is needed.
Rat surveys for landlords & HMOs →You run a food business.
Rat activity in a food premises can quickly become a regulatory, hygiene and reputation issue. A drain survey helps identify or rule out drainage ingress as part of the response.
Rat surveys for food businesses →You are buying a property with known rat activity.
If the seller, neighbours or homebuyer report mentions rats, a pre-purchase drain survey can help you understand the risk before exchange.
What the survey actually does
We survey every accessible drainage run on the property using HD CCTV equipment. Depending on access and pipe size, this may involve a crawler camera, push-rod camera or a combination of both. The aim is to identify defects that could let rats move from the drainage system into the property.
We are specifically looking for:
- Interceptor traps - present, intact, sealed, broken or removed
- Open joints, displaced sockets and cracked pipework
- Redundant or capped-off branches that still connect to the live system underground
- Disconnected toilet, sink or washing-machine branches behind recent refits
- Missing or damaged rodding-eye covers in inspection chambers
- Gully traps without a proper water seal
- Evidence of rat movement, including smear marks, gnawing, nesting debris or fresh activity visible on camera
Every relevant defect is recorded with distance from the access point, screenshots, notes, coding where applicable and a clear explanation of what it means. If we identify a likely ingress point during the visit, we explain it before we leave.
What you get in the report
You receive a single PDF report containing the defect schedule, MSCC5 codes where applicable, severity ratings, screenshots of flagged defects, chainage, a sketch plan of the surveyed runs, access to the CCTV footage and plain-English recommendations for the next step.
That next step may be patch lining, localised excavation, interceptor repair, branch sealing, drain tracing, a private repair quote or escalation to Yorkshire Water where the defect appears to sit on a lateral drain or public sewer. The value of the report is that it turns a vague rat problem into a specific drainage defect that can be acted on.
Whose responsibility is the repair?
In England, drainage responsibility changed in October 2011 when many private sewers and lateral drains transferred to the regional sewerage undertaker. As a general rule, drainage inside your property boundary is your responsibility, while lateral drains outside the boundary and public sewers are usually the water company's responsibility.
Our report is designed to make the defect location clear, so you know whether you are likely to need a private repair or whether the issue should be raised with Yorkshire Water. We do not make the final responsibility decision for the water company, but we provide the evidence needed to start that conversation properly.
We do not carry out rat treatment ourselves. That remains your pest controller's job. Our role is to find the structural reason treatment may not be working, so the repair and the next round of pest control are dealing with the actual cause.
Frequently asked questions
Stop treating the symptom. Find the cause.
If pest control keeps returning to the same property, the drains are the next thing to check. Book a CCTV rat ingress survey today - same-day slots are usually available across Yorkshire.
Book your survey today
Fill in the form and we'll get back to you with a price within the hour. Prefer to call? We're available Mon–Sat, 7am–7pm.