Charleston, SC Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

City Code Section 7-116 sets Charleston's sanitation and environmental standards for every building or structure used for human occupancy and the premises it sits on. Subsection (k) makes the owner responsible for rodent extermination whenever an infestation is caused by the owner's failure to maintain a dwelling or multi-family dwelling in a rodent-proof condition, a duty that applies notwithstanding the general pest provisions of the adopted property maintenance code. The same section requires basement hatchways to be constructed and maintained so they keep rodents, rain and surface drainage water from entering the dwelling, under subsection (e), and requires the premises to be graded and maintained to prevent standing water, under subsection (c), both conditions that attract or shelter rodents if left unaddressed.

Compliance with Section 7-116 is a precondition of occupancy: subsections (b), (d) and (g) each make it unlawful for an owner-occupant to occupy, or a landlord to let to another for occupancy, any dwelling that does not meet the exterior property, exterior structure and interior structure standards of the adopted property maintenance code and this section. The public safety and housing officer conducts periodic inspections of dwelling premises under subsection (b) to secure compliance, and refers uncorrected conditions into the same complaint, hearing and repair-or-vacate process that governs other unfit-dwelling findings under Article IV, Division 2.