Trenton, NJ Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

Chapter 97, Article III (adopted 1967, amended in its entirety January 6, 2005 by Ordinance No. 05-8) requires smoke detectors under § 97-17A in Use Group R-3 and R-4 dwellings on each level of the premises and outside each separate sleeping area, located per NFPA 74-1984 and maintained in working order; units are not required to be interconnected. Detectors may be battery-powered if listed to ANSI/UL 217, or A/C-powered. Under § 97-18, owners or managing agents of residential buildings must install and maintain the detectors, while tenants bear the cost of maintaining and replacing batteries in owner-installed, battery-operated units; a tenant who fails to do so is guilty of violating the section, though the owner still must maintain the detector unit itself and any common-area units.

Section 97-19 makes it unlawful for anyone, tenant, occupant, owner or agent, to tamper with, damage, destroy, steal, paint over, or otherwise disable a smoke detector. 1 requires a certificate of smoke detector/carbon monoxide compliance before any one- or two-family dwelling changes ownership, obtained from the Division of Housing after an inspection; transferring title before receiving that certificate is itself a code violation. 2 scales with how far in advance the application is filed: $35 if filed more than 10 business days before the change of occupancy, $70 if filed four to 10 days before, and $125 if filed less than four days before, plus a $15 reinspection fee if a detector is found inoperable, improperly located, or missing.