Apple Valley, MN Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

The Apple Valley City Council, acting for the City in Dakota County, Minnesota, put its pest and rodent rules into the property maintenance section, § 155.360. The duty falls on both the owner and the occupant of the property. Division (D)(3)(d) states that all buildings and accessory structures shall be free from rodent or pest infestation, and that the owner and occupant shall not permit the accumulation of garbage, refuse or other material that provides shelter to or serves as a food source for rodents or pests.

The code defines its terms. Pests are rodents or insects at any stage of development and other destructive or offensive vermin, including rats, mice, fleas, roaches and bats. An infestation is the presence, within or contiguous to a structure, of insects, rats, mice, vermin or other pests or rodents in numbers large enough to be harmful, unhealthy or unsafe for human habitation. Extermination means controlling and eliminating an infestation by removing harborage places, by removing or making inaccessible the materials that serve as food, and by poison spraying, fumigating, trapping or any other approved pest elimination method.

Garbage is treated as a cause. An interior accumulation of garbage or refuse is excessive when it hinders access to a utility meter, electrical box, water heater or furnace, blocks stairways, doors or windows needed for egress, or is of such quantity to attract or cause infestation of pests and rodents. Garbage must also be stored and disposed of under the City's garbage storage rules elsewhere in the code. An unsanitary condition, which includes an infestation and accumulated animal or human fecal matter, is itself a prohibited condition.

Enforcement belongs to an Apple Valley peace officer or other designated city official. The City also authorizes designated employees of Dakota County public health or human services agencies to enforce the section when they work at the request of and with the City. The notice of violation sets a reasonable abatement deadline, and the City can obtain a warrant if entry is refused.