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

Municipal Code of Chicago § 14X-3-308, part of Chapter 14X-3 (Property Maintenance) in the Chicago Construction Codes, sets the baseline pest-management duty for every structure in the city. 1 requires structures to be "kept free from infestation by insects, rodents, and similar pests" and mandates that any structure found infested "must be promptly exterminated by processes that are not injurious to human health," with "proper precautions" taken afterward to stop reinfestation. Responsibility is split by occupancy type. 2, the owner of any structure is responsible for pest elimination on the premises before renting or leasing it out, you cannot hand a tenant a unit with an active infestation.

3 puts the burden on the occupant in a detached single-unit dwelling or a single-tenant non-residential building, since that occupant controls the whole space. 4 makes the owner responsible for pest elimination in public and shared areas and in outdoor areas, and if an infestation spreads to two or more units, the owner must handle elimination throughout the entire premises, not just the common areas. 5 puts day-to-day responsibility on occupants for the part of the structure they occupy and control, but carves out an exception: where the infestation is "caused by defects in the structure," the owner is responsible instead.

This structural-defect exception matters for enforcement, a tenant cannot be cited for a cockroach or rodent problem traced to a hole in a wall, a broken door seal, or another maintenance failure that is the landlord's job to fix under the surrounding Chapter 14X-3 duties (§ 14X-3-301 General and § 14X-3-302 Outdoor Areas, which separately require outdoor stored property to be kept in a manner that prevents rodent harborage).