Bellevue, NE Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Chapter 15's Housing Code splits rodent-control responsibility by building type and cause. Section 15-109 puts the extermination duty on the owner of any dwelling with two or more units whenever infestation exists in two or more of those units, or in shared or public parts of a multi-unit building. Section 15-118 flips the default for single-unit dwellings: the occupant is responsible for exterminating insects, rodents or other pests within the unit or on the premises, and in a multi-unit building an occupant is responsible for extermination within their own unit if it is the only one infested.

That occupant duty has a built-in exception: whenever infestation is caused by the owner's failure to maintain the dwelling in a reasonably ratproof or insectproof condition, responsibility shifts back to the owner. That construction standard is set separately in Section 15-98, which requires every foundation, exterior wall and roof to be reasonably weathertight, rodentproof and insectproof and kept in good repair, and in Section 15-101, which requires windows, exterior doors and basement hatchways to be reasonably weathertight and rodentproof. The Permits and Inspections Department enforces all of this the same way it enforces the rest of Chapter 15: inspection authority under Section 15-21, written notice of violations under Section 15-23, and a hearing right under Section 15-24 for anyone who disputes the notice, with appeal to the Board of Housing Appeals under Section 15-37 for contested enforcement actions.