freaking out..rats in loft/house and garden?

[basquesteve]

Try placing a tray of fine wet sand with lump of cheese or chocolate in the middle in the attic hopefully what ever it is will leave footprints

[Tringa]

It sounds like rats, though even mice are very noisy when running in roof spaces.

Rat traps are cheap and you could set one where your dogs can't get to it, like the loft. I have found melting chocolate into food well and then letting it set hard is a good bait. However, it sounds like you have a fairly large problem and getting in the local council is probably a good idea.

But Woodman has a very good point - cracks appearing between walls and ceilings and around door frames is something to be worried about.

Dave