Newark, NJ Rental Inspections: Inspection Programs (2026)

1 requires a Certificate of Code Compliance before any change in occupancy of a hotel, dwelling unit, rooming house, rooming unit, boardinghouse, motel or apartment unit used for human occupancy, and requires annual reinspection after the first one. The owner or agent applies to the Office of Inspections and Enforcement, which must inspect within 10 days of receiving the application; if it misses that window, a temporary certificate issues automatically and is valid for 30 days while the real inspection catches up. Inspectors flag every ordinance violation on the report, and separately flag as a "major violation" any plumbing or electrical defect, or other condition, that poses an obvious threat to health, safety or welfare; those must be corrected by the owner, never passed to the tenant, before a compliance certificate issues.

A completed certificate names both landlord and tenant, is valid for 90 days from issuance (with a possible 30-day extension for unforeseeable circumstances), and the fee is $100 including one reinspection, $75 for each further reinspection. The fee is waived for units classified as affordable housing, and new construction is exempt for five years after its first Certificate of Occupancy. Any agency providing rental assistance must separately inspect the unit and report findings to the Office of Inspections and Enforcement before that agency's tenant can be housed there.