Haverford, PA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Article II, Control of Rodents, was adopted 2-8-1971 as Ordinance No. 1412 and amended in 2015 by Ord. No. 2761. Its core duty, in § 138-7, is that all business buildings in the Township of Haverford be rodentproofed, freed of rodents and maintained in a rodentproof and rodent-free condition to the satisfaction of the Director. Section 138-6 defines the Director as the Director of the Department of Code Enforcement and defines "business buildings" broadly: hotels, apartment buildings, tenement houses, rooming houses, office buildings, stores, restaurants, food-processing plants, warehouses and the outhouses, sheds and barns on premises used for business.

The enforcement steps are written out. Under § 138-8 the owner receives a written notice or order and must rodentproof within the time it states, never less than 15 days unless the Director grants a written extension. Under § 138-9 an occupant notified in writing of infestation must immediately institute rodent eradication measures and continue them until the Director declares the premises free of infestation. Failure to start within five days after receipt of the notice is a violation. Section 138-11 empowers the Director to make periodic inspections of the interior and exterior of business buildings. Where an occupied building provides extensive harborage, the Director can close it until the conditions are abated (§ 138-12). For an unoccupied building, the Director can begin condemnation and destruction proceedings if conditions are not corrected in 60 days or within a written extension (§ 138-13).

Several sections apply township-wide instead of only to business buildings. Section 138-17 requires food and feed for animals and birds to be stored in rodent-free and rodentproof containers, compartments, rooms or buildings. Section 138-18 requires animal or vegetable waste that rodents can feed on, and small dead animals, to be stored until collected in covered metal containers of a type prescribed by the Director. Section 138-19 bars accumulations of garbage, rubbish or trash that afford food or harborage on any premises, improved or vacant. Section 138-20 requires lumber, boxes, barrels, bottles, cans and similar materials to sit on open racks elevated not less than 18 inches above the ground. Section 138-21 makes it unlawful to let weeds grow in excess of eight inches in height.