Perth Amboy, NJ Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

Article II of Chapter 227 of the Perth Amboy City Code sets the local smoke detector standard for housing in the City of Perth Amboy, Middlesex County. The enforcing agency is the Bureau of Fire Prevention, which sits within the Fire Department of the City of Perth Amboy (§ 227-2), and its Fire Official reports to the Chief of the Fire Department.

Basements and cellars get their own detector. Under § 227-11(B), in dwellings having basements or cellars, an additional smoke detector shall be installed in the basement or cellar in a location approved by a fire inspector of the City. Under § 227-11(C), the detector is either an electrically operated smoke detector or a battery-operated smoke detector, approved by a fire inspector as per code. Any such detector shall bear a seal, tested and listed by an approved rating organization, shall comply in design to all applicable state, federal or industrial requirements, and shall be operable.

Compliance is tied to real estate transactions. Section 227-11(D) bars the sale or rental of any single-family or multifamily residential unit, and bars additions being constructed to it, until the unit has been brought into compliance with the Article. The certificate route in § 227-11(A) covers one- and two-family and attached single family structures, at $100 for single-family and $150 for two-family, and § 227-11(F) applies those same fees to inspection of a sale for carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers and smoke detectors together. A $50 re-inspection fee applies where life safety equipment is missing, out dated or non-working, or the applicant or agent is absent. The Tax Collector must give each person requesting an official tax search a statement calling attention to the smoke detector provisions.

Landlords face a separate annual fire inspection under §§ 227-4 and 227-9. Residential structures of one to two dwelling units, non-owner-occupied, pay $150; three to four dwelling units, $200; five to nine, $250; ten to 20, $300; twenty-one to 30, $400; thirty-one to 50, $500; and fifty-one and above, $600. Re-inspection costs 25% of the original fee. Under § 227-9.1 the fee is due within thirty (30) days of the completed inspection, and failure to pay draws a $200 fine, with continued failure bringing fines up to $2,000 and a summons to the Perth Amboy Municipal Court.