Bayonne Permit Guide
Bayonne registers contractors at the city level before it issues a building permit, has its Building Department review the cost estimate the fee is based on, and collects an affordable-housing development fee whose final reckoning comes at the certificate of occupancy — on a peninsula where most parcels sit in a redevelopment plan or a flood zone.
Bergen County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Bergen County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
Bloomfield Permit Guide
Bloomfield issues no certificate of occupancy or continued occupancy without a zoning permit certifying the use complies with the land development ordinance, charges plan review at twenty percent, adds a quarter to elevator subcode fees, and restated its whole fee schedule in May 2025.
Brick Permit Guide
Brick will not accept a foundation until a plot plan showing its position against the lot lines and the elevation of its top against mean sea level has been certified by the Township Engineer as matching the survey filed with the permit — and on the bay and ocean front, Chapter 196 puts every new or substantially improved house on pilings.
Camden County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Camden County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
Camden Permit Guide
Camden's Construction Code Official may not issue a permit or certificate without a valid zoning permit in hand — the zoning officer has ten days to act on a complete application — and where the work follows a site plan or subdivision approval, the City Engineer reports that the improvements are in before the certificate of occupancy issues.
Cherry Hill Permit Guide
Cherry Hill inspects the exterior of every single-family home before it can be sold — a certificate of continued occupancy from the Property Maintenance Officer, with a published list of the condominiums and townhomes that are excused — and puts a zoning permit in front of most construction and every change of use.
Clifton Permit Guide
Clifton collects the certificate of occupancy fee when the permit issues, at ten percent of all four subcode fees, and inspects every commercial sale and tenant transfer for a certificate of business compliance — with the Construction Official's inspection due within ten days of the application.
East Orange Permit Guide
East Orange takes construction applications in person only, at the Department of Property Maintenance on the third floor of City Hall, charges a plan review fee of twenty percent of the permit fee, and issues a certificate of conformity on sale only after the Building Division has confirmed there are no open permits and no elevator violations on the property.
Edison Permit Guide
Edison requires a continued certificate of occupancy before any building changes hands or changes occupancy — issued only after an inspection finds no open violations — and puts site plan approval in front of every building permit that is not a one- or two-family house.
Elizabeth Permit Guide
Elizabeth permits through the Bureau of Construction in City Hall under a Land Development Code that puts a zoning permit before the construction permit — and every multiple dwelling in the city registers with the Bureau of Rent Control each January, whether or not it is under construction.
Essex County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Essex County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
Franklin Township (Somerset) Permit Guide
Franklin Township in Somerset County — one of several Franklins in New Jersey — requires no continued certificate of occupancy on a house sale, sending sellers to the Fire Prevention Department instead, but requires a Certificate of Continued Building Compliance before any commercial building is sold or a new tenant takes space, and notifies the county health department within 48 hours of every construction or demolition permit.
Gloucester Township (Camden) Permit Guide
Gloucester Township in Camden County — not Gloucester City, and not Gloucester County — requires no certificate of occupancy from its construction office on a house resale, sending sellers to the fire department for the smoke detector certification, but will not let a finished project be used until a certificate of occupancy or approval has issued, and does its business Monday to Thursday.
Hamilton Township (Mercer) Permit Guide
Hamilton Township in Mercer County — not the Hamilton in Atlantic County — requires a certificate of approval from its Housing Inspection office before any change in occupancy of a house or apartment, sale or rental, with a two-hundred-dollar resale application good for nine months and a rental certificate good for ninety days.
Hoboken Permit Guide
Hoboken brackets every construction permit between two zoning certificates — a first certificate of zoning compliance before the permit and a final one that authorises the certificate of occupancy — routes historic district and flood elevation questions ahead of both, and takes applications in person, by appointment, at City Hall.
Howell Permit Guide
Howell requires a letter of no interest from its construction office on every residential resale, puts an engineering permit and certificate of approval in front of the certificate of occupancy for pools and tall retaining walls, and charges plan review at twenty-five percent with amendments billed by the hour.
Hudson County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Hudson County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
Irvington Permit Guide
Irvington will fine a seller at least five hundred dollars for closing without either a certificate of occupancy or a ninety-day certificate of exemption on file, requires a certificate of habitability on every apartment rental and retail tenancy, and runs all of it through an online portal alongside the fire department's inspection.
Jackson Permit Guide
Jackson gives itself seven days to inspect and issue a certificate of occupancy or a notice of violation — and lets the dwelling be occupied if it misses the deadline — requires a Certificate of Zoning development permit for everything from a tenant fit-out to a construction container, and sends its southern half through the Pinelands Commission.
Jersey City Permit Guide
Jersey City runs zoning and construction as two gates in series — the Zoning Review Application comes first, everything is filed through the online portal, and a contractor without a state license needs a Jersey City Contractor License before the permit is issued.
Lakewood Permit Guide
Lakewood puts a thirty-five dollar zoning permit and a survey in front of every construction permit, schedules inspections by email, and requires a rental certificate of occupancy for the township's rental stock — in a municipality that has grown faster than almost any in New Jersey.
Middlesex County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Middlesex County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
Middletown Permit Guide
Middletown gives its Construction Official ten business days to issue or deny a commercial certificate of occupancy after inspecting with the fire inspector and health officer, charges a flat housing certificate on every resale and rental, and moved permit intake to an online portal.
Monmouth County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Monmouth County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
Morris County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Morris County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
New Brunswick Permit Guide
New Brunswick — the city, not North or East Brunswick — wants four copies of every construction permit application and a separate contact information sheet, inspects between half past nine and half past three, and will not inspect unless a representative over eighteen is on site.
Newark Permit Guide
Newark takes a fifth of the construction fee up front as a plan review deposit — non-refundable, credited to the permit — and cuts the permit fee by the same fifth when plan review is waived.
Ocean County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Ocean County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
Old Bridge Permit Guide
Old Bridge takes a non-refundable two-hundred-dollar deposit with every application for new construction, an addition or a major renovation, sets a three-hundred-fifty-dollar floor under those permits, and caps the height it will count when pricing a warehouse or barn by volume at twenty feet.
Parsippany-Troy Hills Permit Guide
Parsippany charges plan review at twenty-five percent of the permit fee, bills revised plans at seventy-five dollars an hour per subcode with a one-hour minimum, prices a change of use without construction at five hundred twenty-five dollars on top of the certificate, and scales the smoke detector certificate on a sale to how late it is requested.
Passaic County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Passaic County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
Passaic Permit Guide
The City of Passaic — the city, not the county that shares its name — licenses contractors at the municipal level with a liability insurance certificate naming the Division of Code Enforcement, and under Chapter 100 requires a new certificate of occupancy on any change of ownership of a nonresidential building and on the occupancy of any vacant land.
Paterson Permit Guide
Paterson will not issue a construction permit until the Tax Collector certifies that the property's municipal taxes are current — and it adds a debris disposal fee to every permit, with proof of licensed disposal due before the certificate of occupancy.
Perth Amboy Permit Guide
Perth Amboy issues no building permit until a certificate of zoning compliance is in hand, inspects every residential sale or lease for a certificate of code compliance — at fifteen percent of the fee where the building already holds a certificate of habitability — and keeps a master file on every building in the city.
Piscataway Permit Guide
Piscataway is one of the New Jersey municipalities that kept elevator enforcement for itself — its own Elevator Subcode Official reviews plans, inspects and witnesses tests that the state performs elsewhere — and its Chapter 14 makes a certificate of occupancy a precondition to living in any new house or addition.
Plainfield Permit Guide
Plainfield — the city, not North Plainfield or South Plainfield — requires a certificate of compliance from its Division of Inspections before any building is sold, leased or occupied, commercial or residential, and routes exterior work across one of New Jersey's largest sets of historic districts through a certificate of appropriateness.
Toms River Permit Guide
Toms River runs two codes on every shore parcel: the Uniform Construction Code through its Building Department, and Chapter 313, Flood Damage Prevention, through the Township Engineer — who records the lowest floor elevation of every new or substantially improved structure and holds the floodproofing certifications.
Trenton Permit Guide
Trenton requires every person performing permitted work to register with the Construction Official before any permit issues — a city registration on top of the state's — and routes exterior work on designated historic properties through a certificate of appropriateness from its Landmarks Commission.
Union City Permit Guide
Union City — the Hudson County city, not Union Township in Union County — waives construction permit fees outright for improvements to buildings built after 2002 that still carry exterior ceramic tile, for nonprofit construction and for accessibility work, and requires every occupied building's owner to certify annually that it is free of visible mould.
Union County Building Permit Guide
Everything contractors, builders, and developers need to get a building permit in Union County, NJ — requirements, the NJ UCC permit process, fees, trade permits, and inspections.
Union Township (Union County) Permit Guide
Union Township in Union County — the township, not Union City on the Palisades — inspects every rented unit on each change of occupancy and lets no tenant move in until a rental certificate of occupancy has issued, and asks for a survey with every zoning permit down to a fence or a driveway widening.
Vineland Permit Guide
Vineland — New Jersey's largest municipality by area, with its own electric utility — requires the resale certificate application at least ten business days before closing and inspects within five, and will not register a rental unit until the property's taxes, water, sewer and electric are paid up.
Wayne Permit Guide
Wayne lets no residential premises change in tenancy, use or ownership without a continued certificate of occupancy, applied for online, and — in a township the Passaic and Pompton rivers flood regularly — runs even ordinary maintenance and minor work past its Floodplain Administrator for a substantial improvement determination.
West New York Permit Guide
West New York is a town in New Jersey, on the Palisades across from Manhattan, and it requires an ownership, business or tenancy certificate on every sale or change of occupancy, a certificate of substantial compliance from the Construction Official before a rent-controlled apartment is re-let, and issues a certificate of occupancy on a completed building within five days of application.
Woodbridge Permit Guide
Woodbridge will not let a residence be sold, leased or occupied after a resale or refinance without a certificate of compliance from its housing inspectors — valid for sixty days from inspection — and treats zoning approval as a prior approval to most construction permits, down to fences, patios and air-conditioning condensers.