Pontiac, MI Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Chapter 22's Housing Code divides rodent-control duty between owner and occupant depending on how widespread the infestation is. Section 22-611 requires every building used for human habitation to stay free of insect and rodent infestation; when pests are found, they must be promptly exterminated by means that will not injure human health, and precautions must follow to prevent reinfestation. Section 22-612 assigns extermination costs to the owner whenever infestation exists in two or more dwelling units, in the shared or public parts of the structure, or in any unit that sits vacant.

Section 22-613 narrows that duty for occupants: a tenant is responsible only when their own unit is the single infested unit in an otherwise clean building. Section 22-614 then overrides both of those default rules. Notwithstanding Sections 22-611 through 22-613, if the rodent infestation is caused by the owner's failure to keep the dwelling in a rodentproof condition, meaning gaps, holes or deteriorated openings that let rodents into the structure, the owner bears the extermination cost even where only a single occupied unit is affected.

In practice, a Pontiac landlord cannot shift blame to a tenant's unit once the underlying problem is the building's own disrepair. The Department of Building Safety enforces Chapter 22, and Section 22-3 sets the default penalty for any Chapter 22 violation that lacks its own specific fine: a municipal civil infraction of not less than $100.00 nor more than $500.00, plus costs, damages and expenses, with each day the violation continues counted as a separate offense. Repeat violations draw the escalated fines set out in Section 86-501(2) of the Code, and beyond civil fines the City may pursue an injunction or other process in the local district court to force an owner to correct the condition.