Fort Lauderdale, FL Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Section 9-276 of the Minimum Housing Code splits rodent-control duty by role. " Where a building holds more than one unit, the owner and operator are jointly and severally responsible for exterminating rodents, vermin and other pests in the shared or public areas, and for any infestation of other units caused by their own failure to comply with the article. Hotel and rooming house owners and operators carry the same joint duty across the entire premises. The same section requires occupants to keep their space clean and sanitary, dispose of garbage and yard waste through required containers, and prevent stagnant water from accumulating on shared grounds, since standing water and improperly stored garbage are the conditions that draw rodents and vermin in the first place.

Enforcement runs through the city's minimum housing enforcing agency, which under Sec. 9-257 may inspect any dwelling, hotel or rooming house and adjacent premises at reasonable hours, and the owner or occupant must give inspectors free access and requested information. A structure found vermin-infested to the point of creating a serious health hazard can be declared unfit for human occupancy under Sec. 9-259, triggering a vacate order and repair or demolition timeline. "Extermination" is defined in the code's general definitions as controlling insects, rodents, vermin or other pests by destroying harborage, removing food sources, poisoning, spraying, fumigating or trapping by methods the county health department recognizes as legal.