South Bend, IN Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Sec. 16-53(b) sets the general rule: no owner, occupant, tenant or agent may permit trash, garbage, debris or any other matter detrimental to public health, comfort or safety to remain on their property or on the public way abutting it. Sec. 16-53(c)(15) makes the rodent-specific version explicit, declaring it a public nuisance to place or accumulate, or to permit the placing or accumulating of, any matter on real or personal property that attracts or may attract rodents, insects, domestic or wild animals in a way that creates a health hazard or an unsanitary or dangerous condition.

The same nuisance list also separately flags dead animals or animal parts (c)(12) and accumulated garbage and trash (c)(6), both of which commonly feed a rodent complaint alongside (c)(15). Enforcement runs through Sec. 16-54: once a nuisance is found and the property's owner or the person with exclusive possession has had a reasonable chance to fix it and hasn't, the Board of Public Works or its designee can direct a Neighborhood Code Enforcement officer to issue a citation. Before that, Sec. 16-55 requires 48 hours' written notice to the record owner (mailed to their last known address) and to any tenant or occupant (posted on the property) describing the condition to remove.

If the notice is ignored, Sec. 16-56 makes that failure itself a separate violation, with each additional day of noncompliance counted as its own offense. Sec. 16-57 lets the City abate the nuisance directly when the owner won't, whether after an ignored notice or because the condition is an immediate health or safety hazard, and bill the cleanup cost to the record owner; unpaid bills can become a lien on the property after 45 days.