[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners
of the Town of West New York 10-20-1954 by Ord. No. 779. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Building construction — See Ch. 135.
Unfit buildings — See Ch. 139.
Fire prevention — See Ch. 198.
Heating requirements — See Ch. 218.
Mechanical standards — See Ch. 251.
Multiple dwellings — See Ch. 260.
Plumbing — See Ch. 290.
Property maintenance — See Ch. 299.
Sanitation — See Ch. 322.
Zoning — See Ch. 414.
A.
For the purpose of this chapter, a lodging, boarding
and rooming house shall include every dwelling house and other building
or structure kept, held or used, where sleeping, lodging or light
housekeeping rooms are offered for pay.
B.
FURNISHED APARTMENT
FURNISHED ROOM
ROOMING, LODGING AND BOARDING HOUSE
The following words used in this chapter, unless otherwise
expressly stated or unless the context or subject matter otherwise
requires, shall have the following meaning:
A group of two or more rooms, having as a minimum, a bed,
a chair, a dresser and a room closet or cabinet in lieu of such closet,
where each wall between said rooms is a standard type wall, in accordance
with the Building Code.[1]
Shall have as a minimum the following pieces of furniture:
a bed, a chair, a dresser and a room closet, or cabinet in lieu of
said closet.
Every building kept, used, maintained, advertised as or held
out to be a place where sleeping accommodations are supplied for pay
to transients or permanent guests in which one or more furnished rooms
are rented, with or without meals, for the accommodation of such guests.
No building or parts of a building shall be
used as a rooming, lodging or boarding house, before the person or
persons, firm or corporation, desiring such use, make written application
to and receive from the Health Officer of West New York a permit authorizing
such use. Such permit shall be issued only to persons of good moral
character and shall not be transferable. Such permits shall run from
January 1 of each year and shall terminate on December 31 of the same
year such permit is issued. Permits issued after January 1 shall also
expire on December 31 of the same year. Permits issued during 1954
shall expire December 31, 1955. Application for renewal of permits
must be the same as if an original permit is applied for. Such permit
shall be signed by the Health Officer and shall be posted in a prominent
place in said house. Before any permit is issued, however, the Health
Officer shall submit the application to the Building Inspector and
the Combustibles Inspector of the town and shall not issue such permit
until he has received a written approval from the said Inspectors
showing that the building complies with the local Building Code and
the Fire Prevention Code or law.[1] The building must also comply with any building regulations as prescribed by the statutes of the State of New Jersey, as well as all of the requirements of Chapter 322, Sanitation.
All such applications for permits must be in
writing and presented to the Health Officer on blanks to be furnished
by said Health Officer, setting forth the name of the applicant, his
address, his occupation and, if he is not the owner of said building,
the location where said business is to be conducted, the number of
rooms in said building and which of said rooms are to be occupied
as sleeping rooms, together with the sanitary facilities, such as
wash basins and toilets, and other pertinent information.
Before a permit is issued, the person or persons, firm or corporation making the application must, in addition to the facts set forth in the application as prescribed by § 316-3, also make a statement, in writing, of the number of roomers housed on each floor and the number of roomers to be housed in each room, which must be written in on the application required to be filed under § 316-3.
A.
Fire escapes must conform to Tenement House Laws[1] of the State of New Jersey, except that no building three
or more stories in height and containing more than 10 bedrooms shall
hereafter be used as a rooming, lodging or boarding house, unless
such building shall be equipped with at least two fire escapes placed
on opposite sides of said building and reaching from the topmost story
thereof to the ground. The exits to said fire escapes shall be at
least three feet in width and shall at all times be open and unencumbered
so that there shall be no obstruction to their use. A red light on
the passageway or doorway leading to said fire escape or exit shall
be lighted at all times. Doors leading to such fire escapes must be
hung so that they shall be opened outwardly and be locked from the
inside at all times so that they can be unfastened by anyone on the
inside thereof.
[1]
Editor's Note: Formerly N.J.S.A. 55:1-1 et
seq., repealed by c. 76, P.L. 1967.
B.
Should such rooming house, lodging or boarding house
contain less than 10 bedrooms and be three or more stories in height,
then all bedrooms located on the third floor and any floors above
shall be equipped with a knotted rope or automatic slide, as approved
by the Building Inspector, and the approved type as required by the
State of New Jersey in hotels. Such approved ropes or slides must
conform with local climatic conditions. Such portable escapes or slides
must be erected near a window and under the strict supervision of
the Fire Department and the Building Department of this town.
A.
No more than four occupants shall be permitted to
sleep in one sleeping room, however, no room shall be used for sleeping
purposes unless there is at least 100 square feet of floor space for
a single occupant and 50 square feet for each additional occupant
and 400 cubic feet of air space for each occupant occupying any sleeping
room in said house.
B.
Each furnished apartment shall have a minimum floor
area of at least 150 square feet for one occupant and an additional
100 square feet of floor area for each additional occupant and 400
cubic feet of air space for each occupant.
C.
The use of the same sleeping room or rooms by different
persons for sleeping purposes by any person or persons during any
twenty-four-hour period is unlawful.
D.
All bedrooms must have sufficient heat in accordance
with the requirements of the local heating ordinance.[1] If individual heating equipment is installed, such individual
heating units must be approved by the Building Inspector before installation
and such units must be maintained in proper working condition.
E.
Each room containing a bed or beds shall have a window
area of not less than 10% of the size of the floor space. Each window
shall open directly into outside air.
F.
A basement apartment or room shall have at least 50%
of the vertical height of the room above ground level.
G.
Each furnished apartment is to have its own bathroom
with a toilet, washbasin and bathtub, or shower in lieu of bathtub.
H.
The cooking of food is prohibited in all sleeping
rooms.
I.
Any building having furnished rooms shall have at
least one bathroom, for each six persons lodged therein, located in
accessible locations.
J.
There shall be at least one bathroom on the same floor
where a furnished room is located.
Every rooming, lodging and boarding house shall
provide, use and apply the services of an exterminator for and to
its said furnished rooms or furnished apartments as defined in this
chapter, at least once monthly, and oftener when required by the Health
Officer.
Screens are to be provided for all windows in
rooms coming within the purview of this chapter from May 1 to October
31 of each year.
The permittee shall at all times comply with
all local, county and state health and sanitary regulations and requirements,
and all fire and police regulations and requirements, and all Building
Department regulations and requirements, the Building Code of the
town,[1] and regulations as prescribed by the statutes of the State
of New Jersey.
The lodging of a married couple related by marriage
or blood of the permittee shall not come within the terms of this
chapter.
A.
Every person conducting any lodging, boarding or rooming
house shall at all times keep therein a standard hotel-type register
in which shall be inscribed with ink, the name and former home address
of each and every guest or person renting or occupying a furnished
room or furnished apartment therein.
B.
The name or names of such guests shall be written
upon the register by the persons themselves and, if they cannot write,
the names shall be written in by the owner or agent renting such room
or rooms, stating that the person hiring the room could not sign his
or her name, which also shall include the former home address of such
person, and the owner or agent renting such room or apartment shall
thereupon write opposite the name so registered, the number or the
floor location of the room or rooms assigned to each guest, and the
time when the same is rented, whether a.m. or p.m., and until all
such entries have been made in such register, no guest shall be permitted
to occupy privately any room in such house.
C.
At any time any room or rooms are surrendered, it
shall be the further duty of each agent to enter the time thereof
in the register opposite the name or names of all the persons making
such surrender.
D.
Such register shall be open at all times to the inspection
of any guest of such house and any peace officer of the said town.
In a case a reference book or other record is kept in addition to
the standard hotel-type register, the information herein required,
in whole or in part, may be kept in such reference book or record,
and all entries therein shall be a part of the lodging, boarding or
rooming house record, and shall be subject to the same inspection
as the standard hotel-type register kept.
It shall be unlawful for any person to write
or cause to be written in any register in any lodging, boarding or
rooming house any other or different name than the true name of such
person or the name by which such person is generally known.
No room shall be rented or assigned to, or privately
occupied jointly by persons of the opposite sex, unless registered
as husband and wife, or as parent and minor child, and in any case,
notwithstanding such registration, if the manager or person in charge
of such lodging, boarding or rooming house shall have reasonable cause
to believe that such persons do not bear the relations to each other
as represented upon such register, he shall refuse the rental, assignment
and accommodation.
Every person conducting a building in accordance with the provisions of § 316-1 shall cause each unit in such house to be numbered in a plain and conspicuous manner. Such number shall be placed on the outside door of the unit and no two units shall bear the same number.
In the conduct of any lodging, boarding or rooming
house, the acts of the agent, servants or employees of the owner thereof
shall be deemed to be the acts of said employer or owner.
A.
Permits issued under this chapter may be revoked by
resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the town whenever it shall
find that the permittee or owner, agent, servant or employee of said
permittee has violated the provisions of this chapter or permitted
the same to be violated, or has violated any other ordinance of the
town or any statutes of the State of New Jersey, in the conduct of
the business for which this permit is granted; provided, however,
that no such permit shall be revoked unless charges in writing shall
first have been filed with the Town Clerk, setting forth with reasonable
certainty the nature of said charges against said permittee. Upon
the filing of charges as aforesaid, the Board of Commissioners shall
fix the time and place for the hearing of said charges and a copy
of said charges as filed, together with notice of the time and place
of hearing, shall be served on the permittee at least five days prior
to the date fixed by the Board of Commissioners for the hearing.
B.
Any notice thereof for charges against the permittee
shall be served either:
(1)
By delivering a copy personally to the permittee;
or
(2)
By leaving a copy with some person of suitable age
and discretion in the place of said business of the permittee, or
if no such person can be found at the place of business of the permittee
by leaving such notice in a conspicuous place on the premises and
leaving a copy of such notice for the permittee at his place of business
as set forth in his application for license.
C.
At the hearing of said charges, the permittee shall
have the right to appear and defend the charges and, if he so desires,
to be represented by counsel.
Any inspections which may be made by the Health
Officer, or by the Building Inspector or Combustibles Inspector, may
be made by any one of them or anyone duly authorized by them to make
such inspection or inspections, and they may make inspections, before
or after the permit is issued, at all reasonable hours.
The permit required under this chapter shall
be necessary in addition to such license as may be required by any
state law or present ordinance or any ordinance hereinafter enacted,
and the premises cannot be operated for the purposes mentioned herein
unless the permit is obtained and a license is obtained, if necessary.
[Amended 10-19-1977 by Ord. No. 1261]
Any person, persons, firm or corporation engaged in the business of keeping a lodging, rooming or boarding house without first having obtained a permit therefor, or who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be subject to the penalties provided for in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article I.
