Sandy Springs, GA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Section 34-19 of the general nuisance abatement article defines conditions harmful to health that the city can declare a nuisance whenever they endanger the health, welfare, or good order of the community. Among the listed conditions is 'any dead or decaying matter, weeds, vegetation, or any fruit, vegetable, animal, or rodent, upon the premises which is odorous or capable of causing disease or annoyance to the inhabitants of the city,' language that reaches rodent infestations and the rotting food or debris that attracts them. The same section separately lists maintaining a dangerous or diseased animal or fowl as its own nuisance category, and covers stagnant water, sewer pollution, and unused refrigerators left with doors intact, conditions that similarly breed vermin.

Enforcement starts with a complaint: any city official, or any person the city authorizes, can direct a nuisance complaint to the police department, the city manager, or the manager's designee, per Section 34-20, and county animal control officers or city building and license inspectors can also receive and investigate complaints. The police department investigates and can place the matter on the municipal court docket. After five days' notice to the property owner, agent, or tenant, the municipal court holds a hearing, and if it finds a nuisance exists, it orders the condition abated within a period the judge deems reasonable given the nature of the nuisance and its effect on the public.

If the owner does not abate in time, or cannot be served, or the judge finds the nuisance urgent enough, the court can direct the chief of police to abate it directly under Section 34-21, billing the cost to the owner as a lien on the property.