Macon-Bibb County, GA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

This duty sits in Chapter 12, Article VII, Pest Control, of the Macon-Bibb County Code of Ordinances, the general code that governs sanitation county-wide since the 2014 city-county merger. Section 12-132 imposes a flat, strict-liability duty: the owner and occupant of any building must maintain it in a rat-free condition, with no built-in exception for tenant-versus-landlord fault. If a health department inspector documents rat harborage, defined in Section 12-131 as a place providing shelter or favorable breeding conditions for rats, Section 12-133 requires the department to notify the owner and occupant in writing and state a deadline, which by statute cannot be shorter than 15 days.

If that deadline passes without eradication, Section 12-134 authorizes the health department to send its own crew or contractor to eradicate the infestation, bill the owner or occupant for the cost, and record that cost as a lien against the property, collectible the same way as other county liens. The same article also gives the health department broad inspection authority: Section 12-244 lets officials enter properties, condemn or confiscate contaminated materials, and capture specimen rodents to determine whether sanitation requirements are being met. Enforcement runs through the municipal court or state court of Macon-Bibb County rather than a separate city court, consistent with the consolidated government structure.

A companion provision in the same article, Section 12-137, targets fly breeding tied to manure and organic waste storage, showing the pest-control article covers more than rodents alone, but the rat-free duty in Section 12-132 is the operative rule for general property upkeep.