Upper Darby, PA Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)

Upper Darby Code § 454-17, Use and occupancy permit, part of the Sewer Lateral Inspections article adopted by Ordinance No. 3070, lays out the Township's staged inspection process tied to property transfer. If the municipal inspection reveals no violations, the Township representative issues a certificate of occupancy as soon as practicable. If it reveals at least one violation but nothing substantial, the Township issues a temporary use and occupancy certificate, which under the chapter's definitions authorizes the purchaser to fully use or reside in the property while correcting the cited items.

If the inspection instead reveals a substantial violation, defined as one making the structure unfit for human habitation, the Township issues a temporary access certificate instead: the purchaser may enter to store belongings and make repairs, but no one may occupy the property while that certificate is in force. Section 454-17D gives the purchaser 12 months from the date of purchase to either bring the property into compliance or demolish it, and the Township may negotiate a longer repair period at the owner's request. Section 454-18 governs reinspection: at the end of the correction period, or sooner on the owner's request, the Township reinspects, upgrading a temporary access certificate to a temporary use and occupancy certificate once substantial violations are cured, and issuing a full certificate once every cited item is corrected.