[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Hackensack 10-5-1987 as Ord. No. 24-87.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Housing and property maintenance — See Ch. 100.
Uniform Construction Code enforcement — See Ch. 166.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 98, Heating
and Hot Water, adopted 7-21-1947 as Ord. No. 350.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
An agreement, lease or letting, whether written or oral, express
or implied. The presence of heating outlets, radiators, risers or returns
in any dwelling, dwelling unit, business establishment or office, or part
thereof, shall be prima facie evidence of an implied agreement.
An owner who shall have contracted or who shall be bound to heat
or to provide heat and hot water for any dwelling, dwelling unit or building,
or part thereof, occupied as a home or place of residence for one or more
persons or as a business establishment or office where one or more persons
are employed.
A building or structure, or part thereof, containing one or more
dwelling units or lodging units.
Any room or group of rooms, or any part thereof, located within a
building and forming a single habitable unit with facilities which are used
or designed for living, sleeping, cooking, eating or bathing.
A room or enclosed floor space within a dwelling unit that is used
for living, sleeping, cooking, eating or bathing.
A documented condition of the heat or hot-water service which does
not meet the minimum standards set out in this chapter and which lasts for
more than one hour.
A rented room or group of rooms containing no cooking facilities,
used for living purposes by a separate family or group of persons living together
or by a person living alone within a building.
In addition to any person, firm, partnership or corporation having
legal title to a property, any condominium association, cooperative association
or person properly authorized to exercise powers of or on behalf of an owner
of property for purposes of its purchase, sale, use, occupancy or maintenance.
It shall be the duty of every contracting owner to provide heat and
hot-water equipment and facilities that are in good working order and capable
of providing heat and hot water as specified in the following sections of
this chapter. In addition, it shall be the duty of every said contracting
owner to provide and furnish heat and hot water for any of said dwellings,
dwelling units or buildings, or part thereof, as specified in the following
sections of this chapter.
It shall be the duty of every contracting owner to supply hot water
for any dwelling, dwelling unit or building, or part thereof, that is occupied
as a home, place of residence or business by one or more persons at a minimum
temperature of 120° F. and at a maximum temperature of 160° F. 24
hours a day and in a quantity that is sufficient to provide an adequate supply
to all plumbing fixtures located in the building or part thereof.
[Amended 8-17-1992 by Ord. No. 11-92]
It shall be the duty of every contracting owner to heat or to furnish
heat for every habitable space in any dwelling, dwelling unit or building
that is occupied as a home, place of residence or business by one or more
persons from October 1 of each year to the next succeeding May 15, and every
habitable space therein shall be maintained at a minimum temperature of 68°
F. three feet above the floor in the center of the habitable space from 6:00
a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and at a minimum temperature of 65° F. three feet above
the floor in the center of the habitable space from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
A.
In meeting the above-mentioned minimum temperatures,
the contracting owner of any building, or part thereof, that is used for business
purposes will only be required to heat said building, or part thereof, that
is used for business during the normally established working hours of the
business, and said minimum temperature requirements shall not apply to cold-storage
areas, garages and other similar areas. In addition, the provisions of this
section shall not apply to buildings or parts thereof that are used and occupied
for trades, businesses or occupations where high or low temperatures are essential
to the operation of said business.
B.
In meeting the aforesaid standards, a contracting owner
shall not be responsible for any heat loss and consequent reduction in interior
temperature resulting from the actions of occupants in leaving windows or
doors open to the outside or by blocking heating apparatus or ducts with heavy
furniture, rugs or similar items.
C.
A contracting owner shall be obligated to supply required
fuel or energy and to maintain the heating system in good operating condition
so that said system can supply heat as required herein. The contracting owner
may not seek to delegate or to shift responsibility for his obligations under
this chapter to the occupant or a third person, except that the contracting
owner shall not be required to supply fuel or energy for heating purposes
to any dwelling unit if the occupant of which agrees in writing to supply
heat to his own dwelling unit and said unit is served by its own exclusive
heating equipment for which the cost of heat can be separately computed and
billed.
A.
Whenever a building is heated or has hot water supplied
by means of a boiler, furnace, hot-water heater or other apparatus under the
control of a contracting owner and in the event that said boiler, furnace,
hot-water heater or other apparatus becomes defective or runs out of fuel,
it shall be the duty of the contracting owner to properly repair or refuel
the same promptly within 24 hours of the interruption of heat or hot-water
service.
B.
In the event that heat or hot-water equipment becomes
defective and the amount of time necessary to effect repairs will exceed 24
hours from the time that repair work is initiated, the contracting owner shall
immediately notify the Health Department, and the owner may, at the discretion
of the Health Officer or his agent, be required to provide an alternate emergency
source of heat or hot water while repairs are being made.
The contracting owner of any dwelling, dwelling unit or building in
which there have been four or more interruptions, reported to the Department
of Health, of the provision of heat during a single heating season or the
provision of hot water during the preceding eight months shall be in violation
of this chapter.
All ordinances or any provisions of any ordinances inconsistent with
the provisions of this chapter are hereby repealed as to such inconsistencies
and not otherwise.
If any section, subsection, or clause of this chapter shall for any
reason be held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such decision shall not
affect the remaining portions of this chapter.
