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Brick Township this week introduced an ordinance that will govern how local officials will handle the state’s new mandates on lead paint inspections for rental properties.
The state legislature ordered the requirements as part of a law passed in 2022, with the rulemaking process surrounding the law having been adopted in 2023. The law requires an inspection to determine whether a dwelling has the presence of lead paint before it can be rented.
In Brick, the township already requires a rental certificate of occupancy for all single-family rental units, with the lead paint inspection requirement now being added to a list of existing safety checklist items that must be fulfilled before the certificate is issued.
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“The regulations apply to single-family rental properties only,” explained Councilman Derrick T. Ambrosino. “Once a unit is certified lead-free, the township still has to go back in two years in the event of chipping or peeling.”
Property owners can get a more detailed lead-free certificate at their cost.
The inspections are required at both permanent residences and seasonal and short-term rentals. As part of the ordinance, introduced this week, short-term rentals must be inspected by July 2024 and at each change of tenancy, or at least once every two years.
“The state conducts its own testing of multifamily rental properties every five years,” Ambrosino said.
Brick officials applied for, and received, a grant that funded the purchase of lead detection apparatus as well as the training of township inspectors to perform the checks. Lead inspections will cost rental unit owners $25 which will go to the township, and a state surcharge of $20, which will be sent to the Lead Hazard Control Assistance Fund. That fund, run through Trenton, provides grants to low-income households for conversion of lead abatement loans to grants.
In the case a re-inspection is required, the fee is $50. The state surcharge can be waived if a property owner can prove he or she already paid the charge directly to the state.
The ordinance will be subject to a public hearing and second vote at the March 12 meeting of the township council, which begins at 7 p.m. at the township municipal complex.
