Barrie has a by-law on this, and it gives pests two sentences. By-law 2011-138, the Property Standards By-law, says in section 13.1 that a building shall be kept reasonably free of rodents, vermin and insects at all times. Section 13.2 says that openings and holes which might permit the entry of those pests shall be screened or sealed as appropriate. The first sentence describes a condition. The second one asks for work, and it is the one we plan every Barrie pest control job around, whether an order exists or not.
The two sentences, and the one that binds
Section 13.1 is the sentence people quote. A building shall be kept reasonably free of rodents, vermin and insects at all times, and the by-law adds that extermination methods must follow the Pesticides Act. That clause describes a state, not a receipt.
Section 13.2 is the sentence that describes work. Openings and holes in a building, in the by-law’s own list, include chimneys, windows, doors, vents, holes for pipes and electrical fixtures, cracks, and floor drains. Any of those that might permit the entry of rodents, vermin, insects, birds or other pests shall be screened or sealed as appropriate.
Two things follow for an owner. Both clauses are written about the building, not about who was hired or what was sprayed, so a treatment on its own leaves 13.2 unanswered while the holes are still open. And the list in 13.2 is a checklist an owner can work through before anyone is called, because every item on it is visible from a ladder or a crawl space.
Who the by-law makes responsible
Section 4.1 of By-law 2011-138 applies the standards to all property in the City. Section 4.3 says the owner of property which does not conform shall repair and maintain it to conform. A Property Standards Officer who finds a contravention issues the order to the owner of the property and such other persons affected by it.
Section 39.5 then lists duties for occupants, and clause (f) reads: exterminate insects, rodents or other pests within his or her dwelling unit. A landlord who finds that clause can read it as moving the bill to the tenant. The opening words of 39.5 cut against that reading: subject to the provisions of any lease. Section 4.3 still puts the repair duty on the owner, and the provincial side of the question, the Ontario tenant and landlord rules on pest control, puts pest control inside the landlord’s repair obligation.
The clause that matches the actual repair
Section 13.2 is a sealing clause, and sealing has a season in Simcoe County. Work done in late October seals mice into the wall as often as out of it, and the guide on how to keep mice out of a Barrie house explains why August is the month for it. An owner holding an order in autumn has a genuine conflict between the compliance date on the paper and the right month for the work. The person to raise that with is the officer who wrote the order, before the date passes.
Section 17.1 carries the same idea outdoors: exterior walls and their components shall be maintained to prevent deterioration due to weather and to the entry of animals and insects. A soffit a raccoon has opened is a property standards matter first and a job for wildlife removal in Barrie second.
The yard by-law covers the other half
Barrie splits the outdoors into a second by-law, 2011-107, the Yard Maintenance By-law, and two of its clauses are pest clauses in everything but name.
| Clause | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Section 4.1 | Ground cover cut and maintained to a height not greater than 15 centimeters (6 inches) |
| Section 4.2 | Ground cover on vacant land not greater than 30 centimeters (12 inches) |
| Section 4.14 | Household waste stored outdoors in rigid containers with secure lids, kept clean and free of pest infestations |
| Section 4.14 (b) | Containers kept so that animals or vermin cannot tear them apart or open them |
Section 9.1 is the part with teeth. Where the City has done the work to bring a property into compliance, all expenses incurred are deemed to be taxes and may be added to the tax roll and collected in the same manner as property taxes. A contravention is also an offence under the Provincial Offences Act.
After an order is served, the clock is short
The Property Standards Committee publishes its rules of procedure inside the by-law, and the dates in them are strict.
- An order under the Building Code Act may be served on the owner personally or by registered mail. Where service is by registered mail, service is deemed to have been made on the fifth day after the day of mailing, unless it can be proven to be later.
- The appellant has 14 days after being served to send a notice of appeal by registered mail to the Secretary of the Committee.
- The Secretary confirms the notice was sent inside the appeal period. Late notices are invalid and are disqualified.
- An order that is not appealed within that time is deemed to be confirmed.
- Notice of the hearing goes to all parties at least 14 days in advance.
- The Committee is five resident Barrie ratepayers, appointed by Council.
Section 40.3 sets the consequence: failure to comply with an order that is final and binding is an offence, and conviction carries a fine under the Building Code Act. Barrie has run a property maintenance standards by-law since 1976, so none of this machinery is new.
What an owner should do in the first week
- Read which clause the order cites. A 13.1 finding and a 13.2 finding ask for different work, and only the second one is a repair scope.
- Photograph the cited conditions, dated, before anything is touched. If the order is appealed or disputed, a dated record of the starting condition is your own evidence, and nobody can take it after the repair.
- Walk the 13.2 list. Chimneys, windows, doors, vents, pipe and electrical penetrations, cracks, floor drains. Write down what is open.
- Book the exclusion work and the treatment as one scope, because closing the openings is what makes the treatment hold. When the order is about rodents, ask any mice exterminator in Barrie to price the sealing of each opening on your list, not only the bait.
- Diarise the appeal date even if an appeal looks unlikely. The window closes on its own.
An order is not a judgement about the household. Take an older duplex with a cracked parge coat and a garage door seal that has lifted at the corners: it can draw a rodent complaint with nobody inside doing anything wrong, and the fix is masonry and metal rather than a monthly spray. That is why we price the 13.2 list as the scope of work: it is the clause a repair can actually satisfy. If you hold an order now, request a pest control quote for your Barrie property and tell us which clause it cites.