Chattanooga property owners must keep premises free of rodent harborage. Hamilton County Health Department investigates rat complaints, and city code enforcement can cite owners whose junk, overgrowth, or stored garbage attracts rodents to neighboring properties.
Chattanooga combines property-maintenance code enforcement with Hamilton County Health Department vector control to address rats, mice, and other rodents. Owners must store garbage in rodent-proof containers, keep pet food sealed, eliminate harborage like junk piles or dense brush, and seal holes in foundations and crawlspaces. When a rat infestation crosses property lines, the Health Department can issue an abatement notice requiring extermination and structural repairs. Chronic rat conditions on rental properties can trigger additional code-enforcement action, including a daily-recurring fine until the violation is cured.
Failure to abate rodent harborage can result in a Health Department abatement order, code-enforcement fines, and the city or county arranging extermination at the owner's expense as a property lien.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Chattanooga, TN
Chattanooga does not impose a blanket spay or neuter mandate, but McKamey Animal Center sterilizes shelter pets before adoption and offers low-cost clinics f...
Chattanooga, TN
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Chattanooga, TN
Chattanooga regulates vegetation through Chapter 21 (Property Maintenance), Article IV (Exterior Requirements), which requires that grass, underbrush, and we...
Chattanooga, TN
Chattanooga sits in a moderate wildland-urban interface along Lookout Mountain, Signal Mountain, and Stringer’s Ridge, and CFD coordinates with TN Division o...
Chattanooga, TN
Chattanooga Fire Department enforces the adopted Tennessee Fire Code on residential propane cylinder storage, capping above-ground container size and requiri...
Chattanooga, TN
Chattanooga has no general City Code ordinance restricting lawn ornaments, garden statues, or yard decorations on private residential property. Items must re...
See how Chattanooga's rodent control rules stack up against other locations.
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