§ 11-20-8 — Pest extermination; liens

(a) The corporate authorities of each municipality may provide pest-control activities on any parcel of private property in the municipality if, after reasonable notice, the owners of that parcel refuse or neglect to prevent the ingress of pests to their property or to exterminate pests on their property. The municipality may collect, from the owners of the underlying parcel, the reasonable removal cost. (b) The municipality's removal cost under this Section is a lien upon the underlying parcel in accordance with Section 11-20-15. (c) For the purpose of this Section: "Pests" means undesirable arthropods (including certain insects, spiders, mites, ticks, and related organisms), wood infesting organisms, rats, mice, and other obnoxious undesirable animals, but does not include a feral cat, a "companion animal" as that term is defined in the Humane Care for Animals Act (510 ILCS 70/), "animals" as that term is defined in the Illinois Diseased Animals Act (510 ILCS 50/), or animals protected by the Wildlife Code (520 ILCS 5/). "Pest-control activity" means the extermination of pests or the prevention of the ingress of pests. "Removal cost" means the total cost of the pest-control activity. (d) In the case of an abandoned residential property as defined in Section 11-20-15.1, the municipality may elect to obtain a lien for the removal cost pursuant to Section 11-20-15.1, in which case the provisions of Section 11-20-15.1 shall be the exclusive remedy for the removal cost. The provisions of this subsection (d), other than this sentence, are inoperative upon certification by the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, after consultation with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, that the Mortgage Electronic Registration System program is effectively registering substantially all mortgaged residential properties located in the State of Illinois, is available for access by all municipalities located in the State of Illinois without charge to them, and such registration includes the telephone number for the mortgage servicer.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 96-462, eff. 8-14-09; 96-856, eff. 3-1-10.)