[Added 11-2-2015 by Ord.
No. 15-18]
A. Certificate of occupancy (CO). Pursuant to the provisions of §
205-138B of the Code of the Township of North Brunswick, a certificate of occupancy is required as a precondition for the occupancy of any new building, structure, or land and must be issued by the Construction Official with the approval given by the Zoning Officer. In addition, the Fire Marshal shall issue a fire certificate of compliance permit for all new nonresidential uses other than one- and two-family homes.
B. Certificate of continued occupancy required (CCO).
(1) A certificate of continued occupancy is the document issued by the
Township of North Brunswick upon the determination that a dwelling
is fit for human habitation in accordance with the provisions of the
Uniform Construction Code, ordinances of the Township of North Brunswick,
and the rules, regulations and laws of the State of New Jersey.
(2) No owner, agent or broker shall sell, transfer or grant with right
of occupancy, whether or not for consideration, any residential dwelling,
unit or premises on which a building is located and used for human
occupancy, unless a certificate of continued occupancy is first obtained
from the Construction Code Official by use of the appropriate application
and fees provided herein. The owner shall afford the Construction
Official the opportunity to inspect the structure and premises and
shall consent to inspection.
(3) The owner of the residential dwelling unit is hereby charged with
the responsibility for making written application in accordance with
this section for a CCO. The buyer of such dwelling unit may waive
the seller's responsibility and assume the same; provided, however,
that such waiver shall be in writing, which said waiver shall further
state that the buyer is fully aware that he, she or it is assuming
responsibility for obtaining a CCO pursuant to this section, and provided
further that such written waiver shall be filed with the Construction
Official.
(4) The Construction Official shall issue a residential certificate of
continued occupancy, provided that there are no violations of law
or orders of the Construction Official, in consultation with the Zoning
Officer, and it is established upon receipt of a notarized affidavit
and investigation of available municipal records that the alleged
use of the building or structure has lawfully existed. The certificate
shall evidence only that a notarized affidavit has been received and
accepted, and that no violations of N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.14, as amended
(Construction permits — when required), and N.J.A.C.
5:23-2.18, as amended (Inspections), have been determined to exist,
no conditions of violation of N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.32, as amended(Unsafe
structures), or unsafe conditions have been identified and no violations
of the Code of the Township of North Brunswick have been found to
exist.
[Amended 4-4-2022 by Ord. No. 22-07]
(5) If the Construction Official, as the result of a permit records search or a general inspection of visible parts of the structure, finds any violation as set forth in Subsection
B(4), he shall notify the owner of the violation in writing, by mail, or by delivering the notice to the owner or his agent. The notice shall identify the premises and specify the violations and any remedial action, along with compliance date. The notice will require the owner to satisfy the violations, file any necessary permits as required, and state that failure to correct the violations within the time specified shall result in fines as prescribed in the Uniform Construction Code.
[Amended 4-4-2022 by Ord. No. 22-07]
(6) A certificate of continued occupancy shall be effective for a period
of 120 days. One administrative extension of not more than 30 days
may be granted by the Construction Official. If a dwelling fails to
sell, transfer or grant with right of occupancy within this period,
and the dwelling remains for sale, the owner shall make written application
and obtain a new CCO.
(7) If the application for a certificate states that the dwelling unit
is not intended for residential occupancy or human habitation, the
Construction Official may waive the requirement for a certificate
of continued occupancy.
[Amended 3-4-1985; 3-17-1986; 4-20-1992; 9-2-2003 by Ord. No. 03-27; 8-5-2013 by Ord. No. 13-13; 4-20-2015 by Ord. No. 15-06; 11-2-2015 by Ord. No. 15-18]
The Township of North Brunswick shall charge fees in accordance
with fees established in the regulations for the New Jersey Uniform
Construction Code (N.J.A.C. 5:23-1 and 5:23A-1 et seq.), specifically
Subsection 5:23-4.20 (Department Fees), adopted and supplemented pursuant
to the Department of Community Development Fee Schedule as adopted
by resolution of the Township of North Brunswick.
A. Certificate of occupancy. The fee for a certificate of occupancy
(CO) shall be 5% of the permit fee. The minimum fee shall be $100
for R-5 Residential Use Group and $200 for all other use groups. The
fee for the certificate of occupancy must be paid prior to the issuance
of a temporary or final certificate of occupancy. If the temporary
certificate of occupancy expires prior to the issuance of the final
certificate of occupancy, a fee of 50% of the original certificate
of occupancy will be required.
B. Certificate of continued occupancy. The fee for a certificate of
continued occupancy (CCO) for detached residential dwellings (including
one-, two-, three-, and four-family dwellings) shall be $150. The
fee for a certificate of occupancy for attached multifamily dwellings,
commonly referred to as "townhomes" or "condominiums," shall be $125.
[Added 5-1-2000 by Ord. No. 00-8]
A. No person shall be charged a construction permit surcharge
fee or enforcing agency fee for any construction, reconstruction,
alteration or improvement designed and undertaken solely to promote
accessibility by disabled persons to an existing private structure
or any of the facilities contained therein.
B. A disabled person, or a parent or sibling of a disabled
person, shall not be required to pay any municipal fee or charge in
order to secure a construction permit for any construction, reconstruction,
alteration or improvement which promotes accessibility to his or her
own living unit.
C. "Disabled person" means a person who has a total and
permanent inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity
by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment,
including blindness, and shall include, but not be limited to, any
resident of this state who is disabled pursuant the Federal Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 416), or the Federal Railroad
Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. § 231 et seq.), or is
rated as having a 60% disability or higher pursuant to any federal
law administered by the United States Veterans Act. For purposes of
this subsection, "blindness" means central visual acuity of 20/200
or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. An eye
which is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such
that the widest diameter of the visual fields subtends an angle no
greater than 20° shall be considered as having a central visual
acuity of 20/200 or less.
D. No volunteer fire company and no volunteer first-aid
and rescue squad shall be charged an enforcing agency fee for any
plan review, construction permit, certificate of occupancy, demolition
permit, moving of building permit, elevator permit or sign permit.
[Added 1-14-2002 by Ord. No. 02-1]
E. No person shall be charged a construction permit fee or enforcing
agency fee for any construction, reconstruction, alteration or improvement
to a service line repair due to a leak that is required to be repaired
under the Township's Meter Replacement Program for the remainder of
calendar year 2019 and for calendar year 2020.
[Added 9-16-2019 by Ord.
No. 19-26]