Tuscaloosa, AL Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Sec. 13-5 makes it unlawful for any person to permit any storage of refuse or rubbish that may create a harborage for rats, a broad rule that applies to any property in the city regardless of use. Sec. 13-6 layers a stricter duty on businesses that attract rats specifically: anyone owning, controlling, managing, operating or occupying a building used to sell, store or manufacture food, foodstuffs, feed or grain, or to house poultry or animals, or to run any other business that affords food for rats, must keep the building's interior and adjacent premises reasonably free of rats at all times using effective rat-control and ratproofing methods.

Enforcement runs through the county health officer under Sec. 13-7: once the health officer or an authorized assistant notifies a property owner or occupant that rat infestation exists, that person must complete every rat-control, ratproofing and harborage-elimination measure specified in the notice within the time given, and each day of noncompliance after that deadline is a separate offense. Sec. to check for rat infestation or harborage, and resisting or interfering with that inspection is itself unlawful.