Chesapeake, VA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Chesapeake City Code Sec. 38-7 puts the burden of rodent control on the person controlling the property, not just the city. Subsection (a) requires every owner, occupant, or person in control of any parcel, building, or structure to maintain it 'in a sanitary condition free of rats and similar rodents' under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and specifications set by the director of the Chesapeake Health Department. The director develops those extermination and harborage-elimination specifications under subsection (b) and, under subsection (c), may inspect any property when there is reasonable cause to believe it is infested, giving notice of the inspection whenever possible.

00 per violation. The director also has authority under subsection (e) to abate rodent infestations directly on city, school board, and other municipal property. Subsection (f) ties rodent control to demolition: no demolition permit may issue until the director of development and permits inspects the structure and certifies it is free of rodent infestation, and demolishing a building first without that certification is a separate Class 1 misdemeanor. Under subsection (g), the extermination method itself must be approved by the director and cannot be injurious to human health, and the property owner or occupant bears all costs of extermination and rodent-proofing; if they fail to act, the city can perform the work and recover its costs from them.