Hoboken, NJ Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Hoboken's rodent-control duty is written into Chapter 136, Nuisances, § 136-2, Prohibited acts. Subsection A(1) declares it a nuisance to deposit, accumulate or maintain any matter that serves as food for rodents or insects, or that constitutes a breeding place or harborage for them, on any land, premises or building, and requires refuse containers to have properly fitting, access-resistant lids. Subsection A(9), amended in 2023 by Ord. No. B-603, separately makes it a nuisance to fail to keep any dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming house, property or place of business reasonably vermin proof and rodent proof, expressly including letting rat holes or burrows or other infestation evidence go unaddressed; once extermination happens, the property owner or property manager has seven days to fill every rat hole or burrow with earth or other suitable material.

Enforcement runs through the enforcement agencies defined in § 136-1: the Health Department (Health Officer, Registered Environmental Health Specialist, Public Health Nuisance Investigator), Environmental Services sanitation inspectors, Hoboken Housing Inspectors, Construction Code Inspectors and the Hoboken Police Department. The rodent duty overlaps with Chapter 95's dwelling standards: § 95-6A/B already requires foundations, walls and basement hatchways to be kept rodentproof, § 95-4I requires screens on basement openings that could let rodents in, and § 95-7E puts extermination responsibility on the owner whenever infestation is caused by a failure to keep the building ratproof.