Olympia, WA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

The City of Olympia, in Thurston County, Washington, regulates rats through Chapter 8.16 (Rat Control) and Chapter 8.12 (Sanitation) of the Olympia Municipal Code. Chapter 8.16 is aimed at "business buildings," defined in section 8.16.010 as any public or private structure adapted for transacting business, professional service, amusement, or the display, sale or storage of goods, including hotels, rooming houses, office buildings, stores, theaters, markets, restaurants, warehouses, workshops and factories, plus outhouses, sheds, barns and other structures on business premises.

Section 8.16.020 declares that all business buildings in the city shall be rat proofed, freed of rats, and maintained in that condition under the direction and supervision of the health officer. Section 8.16.030 lets the health officer serve a written notice or order on the owner to rat proof; the owner has the time stated in the notice, in no event less than fifteen days, unless the health officer grants a written extension. Section 8.16.040 handles live infestation: once the health officer notifies the occupant of evidence of rat infestation, the occupant must immediately start eradication and has three days from receipt of notice to institute suitable measures. If not, the health officer is authorized and directed to free the building of rats and levy a monthly charge against the occupant for labor, materials, and equipment.

The chapter keeps going after the first clean-out. Occupants must repair breaks or leaks in rat proofing (8.16.050), and nobody may remove rat proofing without restoring it (8.16.060). The health officer can require cement floors in basements or replacement of wooden ground floors where harborage is extensive (8.16.070). Animal feed for chickens, cows, pigs, horses and other animals must be stored in rat proof containers or rooms (8.16.080). Garbage and small dead animals go in covered containers of a type the health officer prescribes (8.16.090). Lumber, boxes, barrels, bricks or stones left on premises must sit on open racks elevated not less than eighteen inches above the ground (8.16.110). Under 8.16.120 the health officer makes unannounced inspections and periodic inspections of rat-stopped buildings at intervals of not more than forty-five days.

Residences are covered elsewhere: OMC 8.12.020 requires all buildings, places and premises in the city to be kept clean and sanitary and free from rats by the owner, lessee or occupant.