New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 5 - COMMUNITY AFFAIRS › Chapter 10 - MAINTENANCE OF HOTELS AND MULTIPLE DWELLINGS › Subchapter 1 - ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT › Section 5:10-1.3 - Administration and enforcement

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) The Bureau of
				Housing Inspection or local enforcing agency shall administer and enforce these
				rules.
(b) Each municipality and county
				of the State may be authorized by the Commissioner to enforce the provisions of this
				chapter within the corporate limits thereof, subject to the supervision and control
				of the Commissioner. Any such authorization shall be in accordance with the
				following terms and conditions:
1. The
				municipality or county shall comply with all provisions of the Act and regulations
				and with all directives of the Bureau issued pursuant thereto.
2. The Bureau shall create a reservation for the
				purchase of inspection services, from the municipality or county during each period
				from July 1 to the following December 31 and from January 1 to the following June 30
				and shall give notice to the municipality or county of the amount of such
				reservation for each such period. The municipality or county may make requisitions
				against this reservation in amounts not to exceed credits earned up to the time of
				requisition. Said reservation may be decreased by the Bureau, if, in its sole
				discretion, it determines that the municipality or county cannot reasonably be
				expected to do enough work satisfactory to the Bureau to earn the full amount of the
				reservation before the end of the State's fiscal year.
3. The municipality or county shall identify all
				unregistered buildings within its jurisdiction. A separate information form
				prescribed by the Bureau shall be completed and promptly forwarded to the Bureau for
				each such building.
4. The municipality
				or county shall be obligated to keep the local registry accurate by promptly
				reporting to the Bureau all transfers of ownership, demolitions, alterations, and
				construction of buildings within its jurisdiction and by reporting all errors that
				may appear.
5. The municipality or
				county shall inspect, in each State fiscal year, all of the multiple dwellings and
				hotels and units of dwelling space therein which the Bureau determines to be subject
				to cyclical inspection in that fiscal year.
6. Twenty-five percent of the inspections required
				to be performed pursuant to (b)5 above shall be completed prior to October 1 of each
				State fiscal year, 50 percent prior to January 1 of each State fiscal year, 75
				percent prior to April 1 of each State fiscal year and 100 percent on or before June
				30 of each State fiscal year. In the event that any of these percentages cannot be
				met based on the number of cyclical inspections that are due during a portion of a
				year, this requirement shall be deemed satisfied if all buildings that can be
				scheduled for cyclical inspections are inspected.
7. All buildings are to be inspected in accordance
				with the most recently promulgated regulations.
8. The municipality or county shall, in addition
				to whatever local procedures it chooses to adopt, make an inspection report
				concerning each inspected building upon forms prescribed by the Bureau.
i. All inspection and reinspection reports
				submitted to the Bureau shall be signed by the local program official(s) designated
				by the municipality or county and approved by the Bureau.
ii. Such reports shall include the name of the
				inspector who performed the inspection and shall be submitted to the Bureau not less
				frequently than once per month.
iii. In
				the event that an inspection of a building discloses a violation of the regulations
				constituting an imminent hazard to the health, safety or welfare of its occupants,
				the municipality or county shall, without delay, transmit its inspection report and
				findings to the Bureau for appropriate action.
iv. All reports submitted to the Bureau which
				disclose violations shall be clearly segregated from reports which disclose no
				violations.
9. When
				specifically requested by the Bureau, the municipality or county shall conduct,
				within one week of the request, reinspection of those buildings where violations
				were discovered at the time of the original inspection.
i. The municipality or county shall make a
				reinspection report concerning such building upon forms prescribed by the Bureau and
				forward such reports to the Bureau upon completion thereof.
ii. No reinspection reports will be accepted for
				credit unless all original reported violations have been reinspected.
iii. The Bureau shall be responsible for notifying
				the municipality or county when such reinspections are to be conducted.
iv. The municipality or county shall be
				responsible for any other functions of the enforcement procedure which can be
				undertaken on a local level.
v.
				Extensions of time to complete abatement shall be granted only by the
				Bureau.
10. The municipality
				or county shall provide the Department with such information as may be necessary to
				determine the eligibility of the municipality or county for funds that may be
				requisitioned by it, including, without limitation, copies of past, current and
				projected operation budgets and tables of organization for the agency undertaking
				inspection and related duties.
i. The municipality
				or county shall also supply the Bureau with a list of appropriate totals of those
				buildings within its boundaries which are not registered or inspected by the end of
				each State Fiscal Year.
11.
				The municipality or county shall be solely responsible for compliance with local,
				State, and Federal law pertaining to the dislocation and relocation of individuals,
				families and businesses, provided, however, that the municipality or county may
				apply to the Department for relocation assistance as it may deem
				necessary.
12. The municipality or
				county shall perform, within its jurisdiction, inspections of those buildings that
				are the subject of complaints received by the Bureau.
i. Such inspections shall be complete and
				performed in accordance with (b)7 above and included in the regular cycle of
				inspections.
ii. However, in the event
				that the building that is the subject of the complaint has been issued a valid
				Certificate of Inspection by the Bureau, the first inspection and reinspection shall
				be limited to the subject matter of the complaint.
13. All inspections performed pursuant hereto
				shall be performed by inspectors acceptable to the Bureau.
i. The municipality or county shall provide to the
				Bureau resumes of all inspectors whom the municipality or county intends to assign
				to the performance of inspections pursuant hereto.
ii. No inspector disapproved by the Bureau shall
				perform any inspections pursuant hereto.
iii. Upon request of the Bureau, the municipality
				or county shall provide to the Bureau such further information concerning any
				inspector whom the municipality or county assigns or intends to assign to perform
				inspections pursuant hereto as the Bureau may require.
iv. In the event that the Bureau deems the quality
				of an inspector's work to be unsatisfactory and so advises the municipality or
				county, then the municipality or county shall immediately cease to assign
				inspections required to be performed pursuant hereto to the said
				inspector.
v. All inspectors assigned by
				the municipality or county to perform inspections pursuant hereto shall attend, and
				shall be required by the municipality or county to attend, training sessions
				scheduled by the Bureau when such attendance is required by the Bureau and any such
				inspector is not specifically excused by the Bureau.
14. The Bureau shall supply the municipality or
				county with a listing of all buildings within its jurisdiction registered or on file
				with the Bureau, and such other information regarding inspection and enforcement
				activities of the municipality or county and the Bureau as may reasonably be
				required.
15. The Bureau shall furnish
				to the municipality or county all forms or documents which are or may become
				necessary to carry out the duties assumed hereunder.
16. The Bureau, upon receipt of each inspection
				report disclosing a violation or violations, may initiate whatever enforcement or
				compliance proceedings as it deems fit and appropriate.
17. The Bureau shall credit the municipality or
				county, as follows:
i. The Bureau shall annually
				establish and distribute to authorized municipalities or counties a regular payment
				schedule, which shall set forth the payments to be made by the Bureau to each
				municipality or county for registration, administrative hearings and court
				appearances, and units inspected and reinspected and for inspection and reinspection
				of common areas. Maximum payments per building or per project may be established.
				The municipality or county shall be credited with an amount of $ 10.00 for each
				first inspection and $ 10.00 for each reinspection when the inspection is performed,
				as a result of a complaint received by the Bureau, and when the building that is the
				subject of the complaint has been issued a valid Certificate of Inspection by the
				Bureau. In the event that the building for which a complaint has been filed has not
				been issued a Certificate of Inspection, the municipality will be credited, in
				accordance with the regular inspection payment schedule.
ii. No credit shall be allowed for any work that
				is not satisfactory to the Bureau or for inspections by construction or subcode
				officials of newly constructed or altered buildings pursuant to (c) below.
18. The municipality or county may from
				time to time make requisitions against the reservation, as may be approved by the
				Bureau, up to but not in excess of the amount of credits outstanding in said account
				as of the date of the requisition. Said requisition shall be expressly limited to
				reimbursement to the municipality or county for existing or additional expenses
				incurred in carrying out the duties assumed by it hereunder or to improve its
				housing inspection program and to supplement the locally approved budget dedicated
				to local housing inspection program; provided, however, in the event the
				municipality or county shows to the satisfaction of the Bureau that such funds are
				not needed for the above, requisitions may request payment to the general surplus or
				other account designated by the municipality or county.
19. The municipality or county shall submit such
				data as the Bureau shall from time to time require and shall from time to time make
				its books available for the Bureau's inspection at such times as the Bureau shall
				require.
20. The municipality or county
				shall conscientiously enforce all local ordinances related to housing and shall
				proceed under such ordinances with respect to all cases referred by the Bureau for
				enforcement under such ordinances. No payment shall be made by the Bureau for
				enforcement under local ordinances.
21.
				The Bureau expressly reserves the right, at its option, to carry out inspection and
				enforcement activities within the boundaries of the municipality or county as it
				deems necessary to fulfill the duties imposed upon it by the Act or to assure
				faithful discharge by the municipality or county of its duties and responsibilities
				pursuant to (b) of this section.
22. The
				municipality or county shall not utilize any funds received pursuant to this
				subsection to employ or otherwise compensate any employee of the Department of
				Community Affairs who has directly participated in the negotiation or approval of
				the authorization.
23. The authorization
				may be terminated at any time by the Bureau for any of the following reasons:
i. Failure for any reason of the municipality or
				county to fulfill in a timely and proper manner any of the conditions herein set
				forth;
ii. Submission of reports by the
				municipality or county to the Bureau that are incorrect or incomplete in any
				material respect;
iii. Improper use of
				funds provided pursuant hereto;
iv. Any
				conduct on the part of a local employee which would constitute a violation of the
				New Jersey Conflict of Interest Law,
				52:13D-12 et seq., if that conduct were
				engaged in by a State employee.
24. In the event of termination, the municipality
				or county shall deliver to the Bureau all inspection reports and registration
				information in its possession.
25. Any
				authorization given by the Bureau shall be effective as of the date stated in the
				letter of authorization and shall continue in effect until revoked by the
				Bureau.
26. Any authorization conferred
				pursuant to this subsection shall be deemed to be extended to the territory of one
				or more other local units of government upon submission by such other local units of
				government and proof of compliance with the requirements of the Interlocal Services
				Act (40:8A-1 et seq.).
27. Any municipality or county acting under an
				authorization granted by the Bureau pursuant to this subsection shall be solely
				responsible for, and shall keep, save and hold the Department of Community Affairs,
				the Division of Codes and Standards and the Bureau of Housing Inspection, and their
				officers, directors, employees, agents and servants, harmless from, all claims,
				loss, liability, expense, damage and judgments, including all legal expenses
				incurred, resulting from any and all injury, and damage to agents or employees or
				anyone connected with performance pursuant to the authorization or to any other
				persons caused by any and all acts of the municipality or any of its officers,
				directors, employees, agents, or any person or persons in connection with
				performance under this authorization, or from any and all injury and damage to any
				property caused by any and all acts of the municipality or county or any of its
				officers, directors, employees, agents and servants or any other person or persons
				in connection with performance pursuant to this authorization.
i. The liability of the municipality or county
				pursuant hereto shall continue after the termination of the authorization with
				respect to any liability, claims, loss, expense, damage or judgments resulting from
				acts occurring prior to termination.
ii.
				The municipality or county shall be solely responsible to defend any and all suits
				that may be brought against the Department, the Division, or the Bureau or any of
				its officers, directors, employees, agents or servants on account of any and all
				acts of the municipality or county and shall make good to, and reimburse the
				Department for any expenditures that the Department may make by reason of such
				acts.
28. No municipality or
				county shall unilaterally discontinue performing inspections pursuant to the
				authorization except upon six months' notice to the Bureau.