[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City
of Northfield 11-12-2002 by Ord. No. 11-2002 (Ch. 67A of the 1974
Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
Any insurance company insuring a structure and/or
dwelling within the City of Northfield is hereby prohibited from paying
to a claimant any claim in excess of $2,500 for fire damages on any
real property located within the municipality, pursuant to any fire
insurance policy issued or renewed after the adoption of this chapter,
until such time as the anticipated demolition costs, all taxes and
assessments and other municipal liens or charges due and payable appearing
on the official tax search have been paid either by the owner of the
property or by the insurance company.
No insurer insuring fire policies in the City
of Northfield shall pay any claim for fire damages in excess of $2,500
on any real property located within the City of Northfield unless
or until the insured person submits an official certificate of search
for municipal liens pursuant to N.J.S.A. 54:5-12, certifying that
all taxes, assessments or other municipal liens or charges levied
and assessed and due and payable against said property shall have
been paid.
If demolition has not yet occurred from the
date of receipt by the City of Northfield of a request for execution
of a certificate of search in accordance with N.J.S.A. 54:5-12, the
insurance carrier shall provide on the certificate an estimate of
the anticipated costs of demolition. The insurer, on notice to the
insured, shall pay the anticipated costs of demolition to the municipality,
which shall hold the funds in an interest-bearing escrow account at
a state or federally chartered bank, savings bank or savings and loan
association in this state.
In the event that the City of Northfield must
undertake the removal or demolition of any building or structure which
is dangerous to human life or the public welfare which constitutes
a fire hazard, the City of Northfield, in addition to assessing the
costs of such removal or demolition as a municipal lien against the
premises, may also enforce the payment of such assessment, together
with interest, as a debt of the owner of the real estate, and may
authorize by resolution an action at law for the collection of said
sum in the Superior Court of New Jersey.
