Columbia County, FL Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Section 9.24, Sanitation requirements, assigns rodent control responsibility directly to residents and owners rather than the county. Section 9.24.5, Extermination, makes every occupant of a one-family dwelling and every owner of a building with two or more dwelling units responsible for exterminating insects, rodents, or other pests within the building or premises. That duty is reinforced upstream by Section 9.24.3, which requires every tenant to dispose of garbage and organic waste that might feed rodents, and all rubbish, in a clean and sanitary manner using garbage disposal facilities or storage containers, and by Section 9.24.4's ban on open storage of abandoned vehicles, appliances, building rubbish and similar debris on residential premises.

Structural rodent-proofing is addressed separately in Section 9.22, General requirements for the exterior and interior of structures: Section 9.22.7 requires every window, exterior door, and basement or cellar door and hatchway to be substantially weather-tight, water-tight, and rodent-proof, kept in sound working condition; Section 9.22.16 extends the same rodent-proof standard to every floor, interior wall, and ceiling. Enforcement runs through the land development regulation administrator, who may inspect residential buildings and premises under Section 9.15 and issue a written notice of violation with up to 120 days to correct any breach, appealable to the board of adjustment.