East Orange, NJ Privacy & Surveillance: Security Camera Rules (2026)

East Orange added its video-surveillance mandate to the Property Maintenance Code as Chapter 159, Part 9, Article XXVII, by Ordinance No. 20-2022, adopted July 25, 2022. Section 159-248 reaches all multi-unit residential buildings containing five or more dwellings, which must install and maintain video surveillance cameras on the premises in a state of good repair and operating condition on a twenty-four-hour-per-day, seven-day-per-week basis. The cameras have to be positioned to reasonably cover all common areas, staircases and parking lots and parking garages, including ramps and driveways, so a landlord cannot satisfy the section with a single lobby camera if the building has a garage or exterior stairwell.

Section 159-249 adds a retention duty: the owner or operator must keep the recorded video on the premises for 90 days, giving the East Orange Police Department and the Department of Property Maintenance and Code Enforcement a three-month window to pull footage for an investigation or a code case. The article sits apart from the Chapter 159 abandoned-property and senior-care-community provisions nearby in Parts 7 and 8, and it does not create any Ring-style police partnership or camera registry; the requirement runs to five-or-more-unit residential buildings only, not to single-family homes, small two- and three-family houses, or standalone businesses. No exemption is written into the section for buildings that already carry a private security guard or alarm system.