Tamarac, FL Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Tamarac's Minimum Housing Code addresses rodent control through duties assigned to both residents and property owners under Sec. 5-209. Every occupant of a dwelling or dwelling unit must "exterminate and control rodents, vermin, and other pests within the dwelling or dwelling unit such person occupies or controls," and may not keep animals on the premises in a manner that "creates an unsanitary condition or a nuisance." Owners, agents or operators carry a broader, joint responsibility: they must "control and exterminate rodents, vermin, and other pests in all public or shared areas, and in adjacent areas, when infestation of said areas is caused by the failure of the owner, agent, or operator to control and exterminate said rodents, vermin, and other pests." Operators of hotels and rooming houses carry the same duty for their buildings under Sec.

5-209(d)(6). These maintenance obligations connect to the building standards in Sec. 5-206(e)(1), which requires foundations, floors, walls, ceilings and roofs to be kept "structurally sound, weathertight, watertight, and rodent proof," and to Sec. 5-203's definitions of "extermination," meaning destroying pest harborage or food sources by poisoning, spraying, fumigating or trapping using methods approved by the Broward County Health Department, and "infestation," meaning the presence of destructive or disease-bearing insects, rodents, vermin or other pests. A structure with an unsanitary condition from inadequate pest control can also be found "unsafe" under Sec.

5-207(a)(9), triggering the article's inspection, notice and special magistrate hearing process. The Tamarac Code Compliance Division, the article's enforcing agency, inspects properties and issues violation notices when these standards are not met.