Brockton, MA Code Violation Reporting: Response Times (2026)

City Code § 4-22(h) sets a firm response clock for the Public Health Division. It is the owner's, agent's or lessor's duty to notify PHD in writing, on the department's form, when a rental apartment is vacated. If PHD fails to make an inspection of that vacant unit within five full working days after receiving the notice, the code requires PHD to issue a certificate of permission to rent, which permits the unit to be reoccupied even without a full certificate of fitness. This automatic-issuance mechanism functions as a built-in accountability deadline: the owner cannot be left holding an empty unit indefinitely while waiting on a city inspection.

Section 4-24(a) applies the identical five-full-working-day standard to reinspections after a correction order: if PHD does not reinspect within five working days of the owner's notice that violations have been remedied, it must again issue a certificate of permission to rent. Both deadlines run from PHD's receipt of the owner's written notice, not from the date the unit became vacant or the violation was first cited, and both are enforced through the Public Health Division of the Department of Health and Human Services rather than a separate code enforcement office.