Yonkers, NY Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Section 76-2 puts the burden on any person in responsible charge of a building, structure or property: they cannot maintain it in an insect- or rodent-infested condition or let it become infested. Section 76-3 gives the Director of the Bureau of Housing and Buildings authority to inspect any property there is good reason to believe is infested; once infestation is confirmed, the Director serves notice on the owner, who must take immediate and necessary measures to remedy the condition. Section 76-4 separately bars removing, damaging or destroying any ratproofing built into a structure, unless the work is incidental to lawful construction that promptly restores the protection.

Section 76-5 reaches beyond buildings to any vacant lot, alley, lane, sidewalk or street by banning the deposit of garbage, refuse, old lumber piles or other rodent harborage. Section 76-6 closes a common loophole: feeding birds or other animals outdoors is unlawful unless the food sits in containers that keep it from scattering and being left accessible to rodents. Anyone using a fumigant or a rodenticide or insecticide poisonous to human life must give the Director, and for fumigation also the Fire and Police Departments, 24 hours' written notice before the work, per §§ 76-7 and 76-9; sodium fluoroacetate (1080) is banned outright. A licensed exterminator, fumigator or pest-control operator who does not follow the chapter's rules can have their permit revoked under § 76-10.