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

Section 1-4-116 of the Minimum Housing Code sets the county's pest and rodent standard for every dwelling unit: doors used for ventilation that open to the outdoors must have screens and a self-closing device, windows and other ventilation openings must have screens too, and every basement or cellar window or opening that could let rodents in must be screened or otherwise sealed. The dwelling unit itself must be kept free of insects, rodents or other pests, both inside the unit and on the surrounding premises.

Section 1-4-118(f) then divides responsibility: the owner must hand over a pest-free unit at the start of a tenancy, and after that the occupant of a single-unit dwelling is responsible for extermination unless the infestation was caused by the owner's failure to keep the building rodent-proof, in which case the owner pays for it; where two or more units in the same building are infested, or the shared or common areas are infested, extermination is always the owner's job. The county's public officer, a qualified code enforcement official, can inspect on his own initiative or after a petition or complaint (Sec.

1-4-119, 1-4-120) and, if the standard isn't met, issue a written repair order under Sec. 1-4-121. This rule covers unincorporated Brunswick County only; Leland, Southport, Oak Island, Shallotte, Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Sunset Beach, Calabash and Boiling Spring Lakes enforce their own housing codes inside town limits.