[HISTORY: Adopted by the Bloomfield Council 2-22-2000 by Ord. No.
00-02[1] (Ch. 159 of the 1987 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance superseded former
Ch. 159, Housing Standards, adopted 9-7-1993.
The following terms, whenever used or referred
to in this chapter, shall have the following respective meanings for
the purposes hereof unless a different meaning clearly appears from
the context:
Any building or structure, or part thereof, used for human
habitation.
Appointed by the governing body of the Township of Bloomfield.
The Mayor and Township Council of the Township of Bloomfield.
The owner or owners in fee of the property or a lesser estate
therein, a mortgagee or vendee in possession, an assignee of rents,
receiver, executor, trustee, lessee or any other person, firm or corporation,
directly or indirectly in control of building, structure or real property,
and shall include any subdivision thereof of the state.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
All individuals, associations and corporations who have an
interest of record in a building and any who are in actual possession
thereof.
Any housing authority or any official who is in charge of
any department or branch of the government of the Township of Bloomfield
relating to health, fire, building regulation or to other activities
concerning buildings in the Township of Bloomfield.
Whenever it shall be found that there exists
in the Township of Bloomfield buildings which are unfit for human
habitation or occupancy or use due to dilapidation, disrepair, structural
defects increasing the hazards of fire, accidents or other calamities,
lack of adequate ventilation, light or sanitary facilities or due
to other conditions rending such building unsafe or unsanitary and
dangerous or detrimental to the health or safety or otherwise inimical
to the welfare of the resident, the Construction Official shall, upon
the filing of a petition by a public authority or by at least five
residents of the Township of Bloomfield charging that any building
is unfit for human habitation or occupancy or use, or if it shall
appear to such Construction Official, on their own motion, that any
building is unfit for human habitation or occupancy or use, make a
preliminary investigation or cause such preliminary investigation
to be made concerning the basis of such charges.
A.Â
Buildings shall be considered unfit for human habitation
or occupancy or use, within the meaning hereof, when one or more of
the following conditions are found to exist:
(1)Â
Condition of structure. The condition of the structure
is such as to make it unsafe or unsanitary through the presence of
serious safety hazards resulting from the need for repairs to the
roof, walls, ceiling, floors or stairs or through the presence of
serious health hazards resulting from continuous dampness or exposure
brought about by neglect or dilapidation.
(2)Â
Water supply. Lack of potable running water within
each dwelling or lack of hot-water facilities available to each dwelling.
(3)Â
Sewerage system. No connection between plumbing fixtures
and adequate sewage disposal system.
(4)Â
Toilet facilities. No flush toilet fit for use in
each building.
(5)Â
Bath facilities. No bathtub or shower fit for use
in each dwelling.
(6)Â
Kitchen facilities. Lack of permanent, safe and reasonable
efficient kitchen facilities within each dwelling unit, including
a sink with running water and provision for a cooking stove; lack
of utilities (gas or electrical) supplied for cooking facilities.
(7)Â
Lighting facilities. Building inadequately wired for
electricity; lack of electrical services.
(8)Â
Heating facilities. Heating facilities inadequate
or unsafe.
(9)Â
Light and ventilation. Living room, bedroom or kitchen
with no windows or with windows opening on an air shaft; or toilet
or bathroom without adequate ventilation.
(10)Â
Unsecured building. Any building without adequate
doors or windows in place capable of being locked or otherwise secured
to prevent the unauthorized entrance into said building by any person.
If a preliminary investigation shall disclose
to the Construction Official a basis for the charges filed, they shall
issue and cause to be served upon the owner of and parties of interest
in such building a complaint stating the charges in that respect.
Said complaint shall also contain a notice that a hearing will be
held before the Construction Official at a place therein fixed not
less than seven days nor more than 30 days after the serving of said
complaint.
The owner and parties in interest shall have
the right to file an answer to the complaint and to appear in person,
by counsel or otherwise and give testimony at the time and place fixed
in the complaint. The rules of evidence prevailing in courts of law
or equity shall not be controlling in a hearing before the Construction
Official.
The Construction Official may determine that
a building is unfit for human habitation or occupancy or use if they
finds that conditions exist in such building which are dangerous or
injurious to the health or safety of the occupants of such building,
the occupants of neighboring buildings or other residents of the Township
of Bloomfield. Such conditions may include, without limiting the generality
of the foregoing, defects increasing the hazards of fire, accidents
or other calamities, lack of adequate ventilation, light or sanitary
facilities, dilapidation, disrepair, structural defects, uncleanliness
and such other conditions as heretofore set forth.
When, after such notice and hearing, the Construction
Official determines that the building or portion thereof under consideration
is unfit for human habitation or occupancy or use, they shall state,
in writing, their findings of fact in support of such determination
and shall issue and cause to be served upon the owner thereof and
the parties in interest an order requiring the repair, alteration
or improvement of the building to be made by the owner within a reasonable
time, which time shall be set forth in the order or, at the option
of the owner, to vacate or have said building or portion thereof vacated
and closed within the time set forth in the order.
If the owner fails to comply with an order to
repair, alter or improve or, at the option of the owner, to vacate
and close the building, the Construction Official may cause such building
to be repaired, altered and improved or to be vacated and closed.
The Construction Official shall cause to be posted on the main entrance
of any building so closed a placard with the following words: "This
building is unfit for human habitation or occupancy or use; the use
or occupation of this building is prohibited and unlawful."
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The amount of the cost of such repairs, alterations
or improvements or vacating and closing or removal, when done by the
Construction Official, shall be a municipal lien against the real
property upon which such cost was incurred.
The complaint or orders issued by the Construction
Official, pursuant to this chapter, shall be served upon persons either
personally or by registered mail, but if the whereabouts of persons
is unknown and cannot be ascertained by the Construction Official
in the exercise of reasonable diligence, the Construction Official
shall make an affidavit to that effect, then the serving of such complaint
or order upon such persons may be made by publishing the same once
in a newspaper printed and published in the Township of Bloomfield
or circulated within the Township. A copy of such complaint or order
shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the premises affected by
the complaint or order. A copy of such complaint or order shall be
duly recorded or lodged for the record with the Essex County Register's
office.
Remedies herein provided shall be exclusive
remedies, and no person affected by an order of the Construction Official
shall be entitled to recover any damage for action taken pursuant
to any order of the Construction Official or because of noncompliance
by such person with any order of the Construction Official.
In addition to the powers herein granted to
the Construction Official, they shall also have the following powers:
A.Â
To investigate the building conditions in the Township
of Bloomfield in order to determine which buildings therein are unfit
for human habitation or occupancy or use.
B.Â
To administer oaths and affirmations and examine witnesses
and receive evidence.
C.Â
To enter upon premises for the purpose of making an
examination, provided that such entries shall be made in such manner
as to cause the least possible inconvenience to the persons in possession.
The Township of Bloomfield, by resolution of
the Mayor and Township Council, may abate any nuisance, correct any
defect or put the premises in proper condition so as to comply with
the requirements of any municipal ordinance or state law applicable
thereto, at the cost of the owner or lessor, expend municipal funds
for such purpose and charge the same against the premises, and the
amount thereof, as determined by the governing body of the Township
of Bloomfield, shall be a lien against the premises and collectible
as provided under the law.
The Township of Bloomfield, by resolution of
the Mayor and Township Council of the Township of Bloomfield, may
appoint a custodian of any such building or structure on behalf of
the Township, who may be either an officer of the municipality or
any other person specially designated to enter into and take charge
of the premises and supervise abatement of the nuisance, the correction
of the defective condition or the maintenance of the premises in a
proper condition so as to conform to the requirements of the Township
ordinances and state laws applicable thereto. In any such case, the
compensation of the custodian shall be as provided in the resolution
and the costs and expenses shall be a lien against the premises and
collectible as provided under the law.
In the event that any owner of a building or
structure in the Township of Bloomfield shall violate this chapter
or fail to abate a condition harmful to the health and safety of the
occupants of the building or structure and the general public in the
municipality after notice and opportunity so do, the Construction
Official designated by the governing body of the Township of Bloomfield
to administer and enforce this chapter may, by and with the approval
of the governing body of such municipality, bring an action in the
Superior Court for appointment of a receiver ex officio of the rents
and income of such real property for the purpose of collecting the
rents and income from such property and expend the same for the purpose
of abating said conditions. Said rents and income so collected by
said receiver shall also be available for the payment of such costs
and expenses of the receivership, as may be adjudged by the court,
and for the payment to the municipality of any fines or penalties
which may have been imposed on the owner for violations of this chapter
and which have not been paid by the person liable therefor. The court
may proceed in the action in a summary manner or otherwise. Such receiver
shall not be required to give bond and shall be appointed only for
the said purposes.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to
impair or limit in any way the power of the Township of Bloomfield
to define and declare nuisances and to cause their removal or abatement,
by summary proceeding or otherwise, nor is anything in this chapter
intended to limit the authority of the enforcing agency or Construction
Official under the State Uniform Construction Code Act or any rules
or regulation adopted thereunder.
[Amended 5-5-2008 by Ord.
No 08-18]
Any person convicted of a violation of any of the provisions hereof by unlawfully removing any notice affixed to any building or by refusing to vacate any building, structure or premises or part thereof when lawfully ordered to vacate same shall, upon conviction, be punishable by a penalty as provided in § 1-15, General penalty, of this Code.
