Jersey City, NJ Public Health Rules: Bed-Bug Rules (2026)

Under § 254-45(B)(31) of the General Safety and Sanitation article, every owner of a dwelling with two or more units, occupied or not, must exterminate insects, rodents, vermin or other pests on the premises, and the duty shifts squarely to the owner whenever an infestation spreads across shared or public areas. The section singles out bedbugs for a specific treatment radius: when bedbugs are confirmed in one unit, the owner must treat the two units on either side of it, the units directly above and below, and the two units flanking those upper and lower units, nine units total.

Treatment must be performed by a 'certified exterminator,' defined in the section as someone with specialized training in bedbug eradication, and the owner must keep sending that exterminator back as many times as it takes to fully eliminate the reported problem. Once a unit is cleared, the owner is off the hook for a new infestation with the same tenant for the rest of that calendar year. The clock starts running only when the owner receives a written letter from the tenant describing the infestation and requesting extermination; a copy of that letter must be filed with both the Division of Health and the Division of Housing Code Enforcement, and the Health Officer can direct the specific type of treatment used. The article was last amended by Ord. No. 18-020 on April 25, 2018.