Gaston County, NC Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Sec. 4-130 of the Gaston County Code of Ordinances, part of the Minimum Housing Standards article, requires every basement or cellar window used for ventilation, and any other basement opening that could let rodents in, to be screened or otherwise sealed against entry. On extermination, the ordinance splits responsibility by occupancy: an owner living in a single dwelling unit must exterminate insects, rodents, or other pests on the premises. In a rental, the incoming lessee has five days after moving in to request an infestation inspection; once those five days pass, the tenant becomes responsible for keeping the unit rodent-proof and reasonably insect-proof, including paying for extermination.

In buildings with multiple dwelling units, the calculus shifts back to the owner whenever an infestation reaches two or more units, or the shared and public parts of the building, since no single tenant controls those spaces. The same article ties rodent prevention to garbage handling in Sec. 4-130(d), requiring an approved outdoor storage container and approved disposal method, with removal duty following the same owner-versus-tenant split as extermination. Enforcement runs through the Director of Inspections, designated as the county's housing inspector under Sec. 4-133, who investigates conditions and orders corrections. The article derives from Res. No. 2019-129, adopted May 28, 2019, which repealed and rewrote the county's prior minimum housing standards in full.