Yuma, AZ Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Yuma's nuisance code treats rodent and vermin harborage as a public health nuisance rather than a pest-control suggestion. Under §134-01, a 'vermin attraction' is any condition or place in the city that provides harborage for flies, rodents, mosquitoes and other insects capable of carrying and transmitting disease-causing organisms to people, and the closely related 'disease transmission' category covers sewage, human excreta, wastewater, garbage or other organic waste stored or exposed so it could spread disease. Investigators and officers from the Police and Fire Departments, the building official, the code enforcement officer, building inspectors, the sanitation inspector and pretreatment inspectors are all authorized under §134-06 to issue notices to comply for a rodent or vermin condition.

Section 134-02(A) gives the responsible party one week from the notice to eliminate the harborage at their own expense; if the condition poses an immediate health threat the correction must happen right away. Where inspection of the property is needed to confirm a vermin nuisance and the owner will not cooperate, §134-05 lets a judge issue an administrative warrant on a showing of probable cause and evidence that the city made reasonable attempts to notify the owner, authorizing inspection and the seizure, removal or destruction of the offending material.

If the owner still fails to correct the harborage, the city may abate it directly and bill the owner for the full cost under §134-02(D), and any unpaid abatement invoice becomes a recorded lien on the property under §134-02(G). Section 134-99 additionally exposes the responsible party to a civil sanction of up to $500 for every day the vermin condition continues.