Rats

A house a few gardens away has started putting out bird food every day, since doing this we have swarms of jack daws and now have noticed large rats in our garden. We have lived here 13 years and i have never seen so many and they are coming very close to the house. we've also have these black birds attack our dog in th garden, its like a plague - is there anything you can do? I spoke to a vermin control company who said pointless them coming out if the neighbour is continually putting down food on the ground. They suggested i contact SCC.