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

The Housing Code addresses rodent and insect harborage from two directions: the physical condition of the property and the people responsible for keeping it clean. On the property side, exterior property areas 'shall be kept free from sources of insect, vermin and rodent breeding, harborage or infestation,' and accessory structures such as sheds and garages must be kept structurally sound or removed, with 'effective rodent-proofing or extermination' required where necessary and exteriors treated with decay-resistant materials or preservative coatings. On the responsibility side, the code puts extermination duty on occupants: every occupant of a single dwelling unit is responsible for exterminating rodents, vermin or other pests in that unit or on the premises.

Once an infestation spreads across two or more units in the same building, that responsibility shifts to the owner, who must carry out extermination building-wide rather than leaving each tenant to fend for a shared problem. This split, tenant-level duty for single-unit infestations and owner-level duty once multiple units are affected, is enforced by the Code Enforcement Agency, whose inspectors are authorized to enter and inspect at reasonable hours and, if refused entry, to obtain a search warrant.