Greece, NY Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Section 157-6S of the Property Maintenance Code is blunt: buildings and structures in the Town of Greece must be maintained free of insect, vermin and rodent harborage and infestation. The Building Inspector enforces that standard alongside the chapter's refuse rules in § 157-6B, which cap how long garbage can accumulate on a property. Under § 157-6B(1)(a), refuse may only accumulate for the purpose of collection, which must normally happen at intervals no less frequent than every seven days; exceptions exist for holidays, Sundays, vacations, extraordinary weather, or construction and landscaping debris, but even then the owner must remove the material within a reasonable time and take care that it does not create an unsightly appearance or disturb the neighborhood's comfort and repose.

Inspectors treat overflowing garbage, uncontained trash and similar conditions as evidence of a harborage violation because they attract the rodents and vermin § 157-6S prohibits. When the Building Inspector finds a violation, § 157-18 requires written notice describing the condition and giving the owner at least five days to correct it, delivered by mail plus personal delivery or posting on the property. Emergency conditions that pose an immediate threat to health or safety let the Building Inspector act without waiting out that notice period. An owner who fails to correct a cited rodent or vermin condition faces the penalty set in § 157-20B: a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment of up to 15 days, or both, and every day the condition persists counts as a new, separate offense.