Bensalem, PA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Bensalem Township's Housing Code requires every rented dwelling to stay rodentproof, not just pest-free. Sec. 123-8(a) requires the foundation, exterior walls, and roof to be substantially weather tight, water tight, and rodentproof, and safe enough to carry any foreseeable load. Subsection (b) extends the same rodentproof and structural-soundness standard to floors, interior walls, and ceilings, and subsection (c) applies it to windows, exterior doors, and basement or cellar doors, all of which must stay in sound working condition. Sec. 123-10(c) separately bars any owner of vacant land or a dwelling with a yard from permitting weeds, debris, or trash to accumulate, conditions that attract rodents.

Sec. 123-11 places extermination duty on the occupant of a single-family dwelling, or the occupant whose unit alone is infested in a two-family or multifamily building, but shifts that duty to the owner or operator whenever the infestation is caused by a failure to keep the dwelling rodentproof under Sec. 123-8. The Building and Planning Department enforces the chapter, inspecting during reasonable hours after presenting identification, and may seek a warrant from the District Justice of the Peace if an owner refuses entry. Owners who receive a violation notice for a rodentproofing defect and do not correct it within the department's deadline face enforcement under Sec. 123-18, and can appeal a director's order to the Bensalem Township Code Appeals Board under Sec. 123-19.