Rodent Control in Land O' Lakes, FL

Census estimates put 18.8% of Land O' Lakes housing in the 1980s and 21.2% in the 1990s, so 40.0% dates from 1980 to 1999, against 33.4% across Pasco County. The 2000s added another 34.5%. Another 13.0% went up in 2010 or later, against 17.7% across Pasco County and 33.3% in Wesley Chapel.

On a house built in those decades, ask whether the door sweeps, window seals and soffit vents have ever been replaced. Rubber and screening wear out, and a remodel, a new roof or a cable line can leave an opening no one closed. Ask the inspector to look at each of these, not only at the roof.

About 76.9% of the CDP's housing units are single-family detached houses, against 63.6% across Pasco County. Mobile homes are 4.2% of units here, against 17.2% across Pasco County. And 82.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, compared with 75.7% in Pasco County as a whole.

So advice written for mobile homes, such as checking the skirting, fits few homes here. In most, the owner decides how far the sealing goes. Ask for a written list of every gap to be closed and the material for each, so two quotes can be compared line by line.

Pasco County's public nuisance article, Sections 42-26 to 42-37, is a separate route from the code enforcement complaint described on the Wesley Chapel page. One of the conditions it lists is premises that, through nonuse, deterioration, unauthorized storage, unauthorized dumping or overgrowth of vegetation, are a breeding ground or harborage for rats, snakes or other vermin.

• Who has to sign: Section 42-29 needs a petition signed by no less than 51 percent of either the property owners or the residents within 1,000 feet of the property.
• What the petition must show: Under Section 42-29, it must describe the conditions, name the witnesses with their addresses, give the substance of what each will say, and state that the owners who signed are adversely and unreasonably affected.
• Conditions the county must find: Under Section 42-30, the county administrator or a designee must find at least two listed conditions. Harborage for rats is one. Others include a fire hazard, and repeated flooding of or other physical encroachment on adjoining properties.
• Advertising costs: Section 42-32 says the costs of all advertising are borne by the complainant. If the board of county commissioners finds after the hearing that a nuisance exists, that cost is borne by the respondent creating the nuisance.
• What the board can order: Among the remedies in Section 42-33, the board can specify steps the respondent must take to abate the nuisance, impose conditions or restrictions on the continued use of the property, or direct the county attorney to seek judicial relief.

Under Section 42-36, the county administrator, a designee or the board of county commissioners can also start a complaint without a petition. This is a plain-language summary of the code, not legal advice.