Montgomery, AL Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

City Code § 14-172 requires all buildings in Montgomery, Alabama used for business, including stores, hotels, restaurants, roominghouses, warehouses, abattoirs and factories, plus outhouses, sheds and barns on business premises, to be "ratproofed so that rats cannot gain entrance to them" and kept in a ratproof, rat-free condition. Section 14-177 separately makes it unlawful for a tenant of occupied premises, or an owner/agent of unoccupied premises, to "create or allow any conditions to exist" that attract, feed or harbor rats, anywhere in the city, not just on business property.

Section 14-178 extends the rule to animal feed, which must be stored in rat-free, ratproof containers or rooms. The health officer enforces the article: § 14-171 authorizes inspection of the interior and exterior of any premises to check compliance, and § 14-174 lets the health officer issue a written notice or order to ratproof a building, with a deadline for the owner or agent to complete the work. Section 14-176 covers active infestations at business establishments: once the health officer notifies an occupant of a rat infestation, the occupant has three days to start eradication measures and must keep at it until the premises are rat-free, or the city will do the extermination itself and bill the occupant monthly for labor and materials.

Section 14-173 also requires extermination treatment for rats and similar rodents before any dwelling or business structure is moved, razed or demolished, with treatment starting at least 15 days before the work begins. Section 14-175 bars removing ratproofing from a business building without restoring it, and bars leaving any new opening unsealed against rats.