It seems like it’s finally over. After much debate and passion from both sides of the discussion, the Toms River Township Council has scheduled a meeting for this Thursday, January 18 at 7 pm in the L. Manuel Hirshblond Room at Town Hall, in which it is set to finalize the repeal of the controversial certificate of occupancy ordinance.
The ordinance, first adopted in December of 2021, requires all home owners and real estate agents to obtain a certificate of occupancy in order to sell a house.
Considering the long list of safety requirements, significant fees, and tedious application process necessary to obtain said certificate, it is no wonder the ordinance has been honored with the title “controversial”.
While the sellers obviously saw the ordinance as nothing but a nuisance and in the words of Councilman Justin Lamb “a money grab”, the Township officials say this was an extremely necessary safety precaution. Until the certificate, Township engineer Robert Chankalian said by a council meeting in 2022, houses were being built with real life-threatening safety concerns. Improperly vented heating units, electric work that posed fire-hazards and basement bedrooms without windows, are just a few examples of said concerns, and buyers are being saddled unsafe houses, much to their chagrin.
Councilman Justin Lamb responded to this claim by saying “what happened to buyer-beware”, a concept in real estate which refers to the buyer’s burden to make sure the house meets the standards he expects from it. While not required by law, the buyer can choose to bring in his own home inspector, and if he chooses to forgo an inspection, that is his right, leaving no room for Township regulations.
This is the staging grounds for the ensuing debate. On one side, we have those who claim their priority is safety and buyer protection. On the other side, the argument set forth is that is no one but the buyer’s concern, and a home inspector along with the obligatory fire inspection will ensure the safety of the home. Hence, any push from the Township to regulate the transaction through the ordinance can be seen as nothing but a money grab.
For a while there were no changes other than some minor concessions such as reduction of fees and streamlining of the application process. Matters came to head however, when Mayor Daniel Rodrick was elected, a key piece of his campaign being the repeal of the ordinance.
Wasting no time, one of his first actions in office was to suspend any enforcement of the ordinance, and to stop accepting applications for the certificate. Thursday night should see an end to this two year controversy.
