Lenexa, KS Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Article 3-5-E of the Lenexa City Code is short but absolute. Section 3-5-E-1 requires all buildings and structures within the present or future boundaries of the City to be rat-stopped, freed of rats and maintained in a rat-stopped and rat-free condition. The duty is a standing condition, not a response to a complaint. Section 3-5-E-2 makes it unlawful for any occupant, owner, contractor, public utility company, plumber or other person to remove rat-stoppage from a building for any purpose and fail to restore it in a satisfactory condition, or to make any new opening that is not closed or sealed against the entrance of rats.

Section 3-5-I-5 supplies the definitions. Rat-stoppage is a form of ratproofing to prevent rats entering buildings from the exterior or from one building to another, consisting of closing all openings in exterior walls, ground or first floors, basements, roofs and foundations that rats can reach by climbing or burrowing, with material impervious to rat-gnawing. Rat harborage is any condition that provides shelter or protection for rats, favoring their multiplication in, under or outside a structure. A building includes any structure adapted for occupancy as a residence or business, including houses, sheds and other structures on business premises. The occupant is the person who uses, controls or occupies the building, whether owner or tenant, and for a vacant building the owner, agent or custodian carries the occupant's responsibilities.

The Environmental Code in Article 3-5-A backs this up. Sheds, garages and other out-buildings must be free of missing boards, broken doors or glass or other conditions that allow harborage of rats or animals, and storing trash and garbage in them is prohibited to the extent it attracts rodents. Section 3-5-A also bans letting broken or worthless items, waste, garbage or refuse accumulate on any property, and it reaches food products and food containers that attract insects, rodents or animals. Because Section 3-5-C-1 declares any Environmental Code violation a nuisance, enforcement moves through the Notice of Violation and Order to Abate process in Section 3-5-H-7.