Berwyn, IL Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Chapter 1490 of the Berwyn Code of Ordinances sets up a notice-and-abatement system run by the Building Director. Section 1490.02 puts every building in the city under the ratproofing duty, with food-industry buildings left to the President of the Board of Health. Under § 1490.06 the Building Director can make unannounced inspections of the interior and exterior of any building and serves the owner, the occupant or both with notices or orders to abate what is found.

Owners and occupants carry different duties. Under § 1490.03 an owner who receives a written notice must ratproof the building within the time it states, which is never less than 15 days, or within any longer written extension the Building Director grants. Under § 1490.04 the occupant handles eradication work, including poisoning, trapping, harborage removal and fumigation, and must keep the building rat-free afterward, including after a reinfestation. Under § 1490.05 occupants repair breaks and leaks in the ratproofing, but the owner is responsible when the damage comes from natural deterioration of the building. Where the Building Director finds evidence of infestation, the building can be quarantined, with a signed placard posted and every person barred from entering.

Habits that feed rats are regulated too. Section 1490.10 requires bird and pet food kept outside a ratproof building to sit in ratfree, ratproof containers. Section 1490.11 requires garbage in covered containers of a type the Building Director prescribes and bars accumulating lumber, boxes, barrels, brick or stone unless it is stacked on open racks at least 18 inches above the ground. Section 1490.12 requires new construction and major repairs to be ratproof, with the Building Director approving the specifications first. Since Ordinance 25-13 (passed 8-12-2025), § 1490.14 requires owners or managers of a multi-residential building zoned as commercial with five or more dwelling units to submit a valid yearly rodent abatement contract from a licensed exterminator to the Building Department.