Kent County, DE Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Kent County treats rodent and pest control as a shared owner/occupant duty spread across several Housing Code sections. Section 143-21.A puts the burden on the owner to exterminate insects, rats, vermin or other pests inside a structure before it is rented, leased or sold, so a landlord cannot hand over an infested unit and leave the tenant to solve it. Once occupied, § 143-21.B shifts responsibility to the tenant-occupant for keeping the structure ratproof, and if the tenant lets that condition lapse, the cost of the resulting extermination falls on the tenant.

Section 143-21.C makes the occupant of a single-dwelling-unit structure responsible for pest control both inside and on the premises, while § 143-21.D puts extermination in the shared or public areas of a multi-unit building, rooming house or multiple occupancy back on the owner or operator. These duties are reinforced elsewhere in the chapter: § 143-12.F requires all premises to remain free of insects, rats, vermin or other pests in exterior areas, § 143-13.C requires exterior walls, roofs and foundations to be kept in a condition that excludes rats, and § 143-14.I requires prompt extermination whenever insects or rats are found indoors, with precautions taken afterward to prevent reinfestation. The county's code official enforces all of these standards under § 143-26.