Atlantic County, NJ Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

County Code § 81-2 requires every room occupied for sleeping purposes by one person to contain at least 70 square feet of floor space, and every room occupied by more than one person to have at least 60 square feet per occupant, with a minimum ceiling height of seven feet. The number of beds cannot exceed the posted lawful capacity for the room. Every rooming unit needs a safe, unobstructed means of egress to ground-level open space, and no lobby, hallway, closet, bathroom, basement or kitchen may be used as a sleeping room.

Between May 1 and October 1 each year, all sleeping room windows must carry tight-fitting screens. Under § 81-3, every habitable room needs a window or skylight equal to at least 10% of the room's floor area, and under § 81-4 at least 45% of that window area must be operable for ventilation, or an alternative providing two air changes per hour. Section 81-2G requires one flush toilet, lavatory and bathtub or shower per five persons sharing facilities, with hot water supplied at all times, and § 81-2K requires the heating plant to maintain 68 degrees Fahrenheit during cold weather.

Section 81-6 separately bars rodent, vermin and insect infestation and requires cleanliness free of garbage. This chapter applies only in municipalities that participate in the Atlantic County Public Health Agency, per § 81-12, and § 81-14 defers to conflicting state sheltered-care statutes on room size.