New Jersey condos exempt from inspection still have to register — and apply
New Jersey condos exempt from inspection still have to register — and apply
2026-09-15 · New Jersey · Compliance
"Exempt" does not mean "do nothing," and a great many New Jersey associations have been treating it that way.
The Department of Community Affairs made the point directly in the Summer 2026 Construction Code Communicator, in an article from the Bureau of Housing Inspection aimed at municipal construction officials.1
What counts as a multiple dwelling
Broader than most boards assume. A multiple dwelling includes "a building or structure in which three or more dwelling units… any group of ten or more buildings on a single/contiguous parcel(s) of land, each with two dwelling units… all condominiums, co-ops, non-owner-occupied mutual housing corporations, townhouse communities, and retirement communities."
The registration duty
N.J.A.C. 5:10-1.11 requires the owner of each multiple dwelling to file a Certificate of Registration with the Bureau of Housing Inspection. And N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.24(e) bars a construction official from issuing a certificate of occupancy until that registration certificate has been filed with them.
The trap
Here is the sentence that matters, in DCA's words:
"The NJ Hotel and Multiple Dwelling Law, N.J.S.A. 55:13A(k)2, exempts certain condominiums, co-ops, and non-owner-occupied mutual housing corporations from the multiple dwelling definition. These properties must still register with the Bureau of Housing Inspection and apply for exemption from the Bureau's inspection process. Townhouse communities may not have to register with the Bureau; however, they must apply for an exemption from the registration process through the Bureau's Registration Unit."
So there are two separate exemptions, each of which must be applied for, and neither of which is automatic.
What it looks like when this goes wrong
An association that never filed — because someone thirty years ago concluded the building was exempt and stopped there — is not an exempt multiple dwelling. It is an unregistered multiple dwelling, which is a different status with different consequences.
DCA's companion piece in the Spring 2026 Communicator put the point to construction officials in those terms, warning that unregistered multiple dwellings "are a significant cause for concern."
The practical trigger is usually a certificate of occupancy. Under N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.24(e) a construction official cannot issue one until the registration certificate is on file — which means the problem surfaces at the worst moment, when a unit is being sold, a renovation is being closed out, or a building addition is finished. UCC Bulletin 01-2 permits a Temporary CO without it; Bulletin 79-6 carries the technical provisions.
How to check
Registration status is verifiable on the DCA Service Portal, by registration number or by address. That is a five-minute task and it is worth doing before it matters.
The Bureau of Housing Inspection is reachable at (609) 633-6229; its chief is Rob Austin. The Bureau of Homeowner Protection, which handles the PREDFDA and reserve side, is separate, at (609) 984-7905.
Why this is landing now
Two reasons, both of them about volume.
New Jersey's structural-integrity statute is generating engineering reports and, downstream of them, permit applications for corrective work. Every one of those applications puts an association in front of a construction official who now has explicit departmental guidance to check registration.
And the state adopted the 2024 model codes effective August 17, 2026, so the volume of permit activity in the sector is high for reasons unrelated to structural integrity as well.
The separate inspection-process question
A pair of bills pending in the Legislature, A5099 and S4302, would change how Hotel and Multiple Dwelling Law inspections are conducted for condominium and cooperative unit owners — requiring 30 to 180 days' written notice with a stated inspection date, a Saturday alternative where the first date is a weekday, a published standardised list of what is evaluated, and a bar on penalising an individual unit owner for failing an initial inspection.
Those bills describe the current process as producing "unreasonable inconveniences to unit owners due to limited notice standards, a lack of clarity regarding inspection criteria, inflexible scheduling during weekday work hours, and immediate fines without a sufficiently reasonable opportunity to cure." Neither has had a committee vote.
The board-level action
Find out whether the association is registered. If it is not, find out which of the two exemptions it believes applies, and file for it. The exemption is real; the paperwork is the condition of having it.
Related New Jersey HOA Topics
- NJ DCA, Construction Code Communicator, Vol. 38 No. 2, Summer 2026, “Bureau of Housing Inspection and UCC Officials” ↩
- NJ DCA, Construction Code Communicator, Vol. 38 No. 1, Spring 2026, “Registration of Multiple Dwellings and Local Construction Offices” ↩
- A5099 (222nd Legislature), introduced text on condominium and cooperative inspection processes ↩
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