Portland City Code Title 29 makes property owners responsible for rodent abatement on their lots. After a complaint, BDS issues a notice giving 14 days to bait, trap, and seal entry points before escalating to a code enforcement lien.
Title 29 (Property Maintenance Regulations) treats rodent infestation as a nuisance. Inspectors from Permitting & Development respond to 311 complaints, document evidence (droppings, burrows, gnaw marks), and serve a written abatement notice. Owners must hire a licensed pest professional or self-treat with EPA-registered baits, then seal openings larger than a quarter inch. Multnomah County Vector Control assists with public-right-of-way infestations. Restaurants face concurrent enforcement under food rules. Continued failure to abate can result in the city contracting cleanup and billing the property owner with a lien attached for non-payment.
Ignoring the 14-day abatement order, refusing inspector access, or accumulating waste that attracts rodents can result in daily civil penalties, contractor charge-backs, and a property lien recorded with Multnomah County.
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