What Binds You

Who May Apply Pesticide in a Unit: Utah R68-7, FIFRA, and the Records to Demand

Written for: Asset and risk managers, regional and property managers, maintenance supervisors, procurement staff at PHAs and portfolios

Two bodies of law decide who may treat an apartment for pests and how. Utah’s pesticide rule, R68-7, decides who needs a license. Federal pesticide law decides how any product may be used, whoever applies it.

The federal rule that binds everyone: the label

(G) to use any registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling; — 7 U.S.C. 136j(a)(2)(G), listed among acts that “shall be unlawful for any person”

“Any person” includes a licensed vendor, an owner, a maintenance technician and a resident. The label sets where a product may go, how much, and when people may re-enter. Salt Lake City’s code says the same from the owner’s side: no owner may be required “to apply pesticides contrary to label directions” (SLC Code 18.96.050(S)).

Utah: commercial applicators

(1) “Commercial pesticide applicator” means any person who uses or applies pesticides for hire or compensation, or who makes pesticidal claims, remedies, or advertises for hire or compensation, or who solicits the use of pesticides for hire or compensation. — R68-7-2(1)

(c) A commercial pesticide applicator license is required for any individual who applies pesticides for a commercial business. No person shall purchase, use, or demonstrate the use of, any restricted use pesticide, or shall apply any pesticide for a commercial business, without becoming certified and obtaining a commercial pesticide applicator license issued by the department. — R68-7-9(1)(c)

A pest control company you hire is a commercial applicator, and every technician who applies product for it must hold a commercial applicator license.

Utah: non-commercial applicators (restricted use products)

(8) “Non-commercial pesticide applicator” means any person working as an employee of any entity, firm, or government agency who uses or demonstrates the use of any restricted use pesticide on the entity’s property, or any property occupied, managed, or under the direction or authority of any entity, firm, or government agency, and does not require a commercial pesticide applicator’s license. — R68-7-2(8)

(c) Each person performing the physical act of applying restricted use pesticides shall be certified and have a valid non-commercial pesticide applicator license. — R68-7-12(1)(c)

Maintenance staff: a question to put to UDAF, not to guess

Whether an apartment’s own maintenance staff may apply general use pest products in residents’ units without a license is not answered flatly by the text quoted above. Two facts pull in different directions:

• The non-commercial license is defined around restricted use pesticides.
• The commercial definition turns on application “for hire or compensation.” Many apartment communities are run by a third-party management company whose employees work on an owner’s property under a management contract. Whether that is application “for hire or compensation” is not settled by the rule’s text.

This reference does not answer that question. Ask the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food’s pesticide program, in writing, with your property’s management structure described, and keep its answer. The label rule above applies either way.

The record every commercial applicator must keep

This is the record to ask your vendor for after every service. It is required by rule:

(11) Records Maintained. Commercial applicators shall keep and maintain records of any pesticide applications. (a) These records shall be recorded within 24 hours after the pesticide application is made. — R68-7-11(11)(a)

The required contents, in the rule’s words:

(i) the name and address of the person or entity for whom the pesticide is applied; — R68-7-11(11)(b)(i)

(iii) the total square footage or total size of the area to be treated with pesticides; (iv) a description of the specific target sites, crops, commodities, or stored products at the pesticide application location to which any pesticides are applied; (v) the time and date, including the month, day, and year when the pesticide was applied; (vi) the brand name of the pesticides, EPA registration number, and mix rate for any pesticides applied; (vii) the total amount of pesticides, including diluted or ready-to-use (RTU) pesticides, applied per location and per application; (viii) the purpose of the pesticide application, the pesticide target site, and pest to be treated; (ix) the name, commercial pesticide business address, and commercial pesticide applicator license number of the certified commercial pesticide applicator who applied the pesticides; — R68-7-11(11)(b)(iii)–(ix)

(c) Records shall be kept for a period of at least two years from the date of the pesticide application and shall be available for inspection by the department upon request. — R68-7-11(11)(c)

Item (ii) of the rule covers the application address when it differs from the customer’s. Two related rules are often confused with this one: R68-7-16(1)(b) is the business’s training record, and R68-7-16(3)(b) requires the business name and license number on proposals, service records and vehicles. Neither is the application record.

R68-7-16(4) requires a written notice to the customer before an application of a restricted use pesticide with a Danger or Danger-Poison signal word; for a multi-unit residence the notice may be left with the property manager. It is not a general notice rule for every treatment.

What to ask for in a contract

Professional synthesis, not law

• A copy of each application record, by unit, within a set number of days of the service, carrying every R68-7-11(11) element. Two years is the rule’s minimum retention; a property that may face a claim or an agency review later may want to keep its copies longer.
• The applicator’s license number on every record (R68-7-11(11)(b)(ix)), and the business name and license number on the service record (R68-7-16(3)(b)).
• The product’s label and Safety Data Sheet on request, and the label’s re-entry statement for any product used inside a unit, so the property can tell the resident when the room may be used again.

The Model Scope of Work carries these as contract language.

A 2026 Utah law (S.B. 26, effective May 6, 2026) changed parts of the state pesticide statute that R68-7 implements. The rule text quoted here was current on the date at the top of this page. Check the rule before relying on business-licensing details.