Mission Viejo, CA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

70, Pest Abatement, defines a pest breeding hazard as the accumulation, existence or maintenance of any substance, matter, material or condition that results in the breeding of flies, cockroaches, rats or other insects or rodents in a manner endangering public health or safety, or unreasonably interfering with others' enjoyment of life and property. Sec. 020 flatly declares any such hazard a public nuisance. The city health officer investigates on routine inspection, on request of the pest abatement board, or on reasonable cause to believe a hazard exists, and any resident may petition the board to direct an inspection.

When a hazard is found, Sec. 040 requires the health officer to serve written notice on the property owner or person in control, specifying what is causing the hazard and what corrective work is required, and to post a copy conspicuously on the property. The notice sets a public hearing before the pest abatement board at least ten days out. At that hearing the board must find whether a hazard exists, what is causing it, what abatement work is needed, and whether the health officer should abate it directly if the owner fails to act by the board's deadline.

The pest abatement board, on the health officer's recommendation, may also adopt pest control standards for commercial dairy farms, poultry ranches and horse stables under Sec. 060, which are made available to the public. If the city performs the abatement itself, Sec. 070 makes the full cost, including administrative overhead, a special assessment lien against the parcel under Government Code Sec. 25845, collected the same way as ordinary city property taxes and subject to the same delinquency penalties, with the city retaining an independent right to sue the owner and any person in possession for those costs.