JERSEY CITY — The Jersey City Planning Board has put off until March a proposal that would require sellers of property to get inspected before completing a sale.
At the Jan. 20 board meeting, Bob Cotter, director of the city’s planning department, called the proposal “a good idea,” but said the resolution sent to the Planning Board was flawed and needed to be reworked.
The plan – introduced by Councilman Khemraj “Chico” Ramchal – was designed to protect prospective home buyers against possibly purchasing properties that have illegal apartments and unauthorized off street parking.
While Cotter said the intention was good, the resolution has led to confusion, and had not been reviewed by his office or the city’s legal department.
The hearing on the measure brought out of hundreds of residents, business owners and real estate agencies. Most were confused by what infractions the proposed new regulations would cover.
The proposed plan would have required property owners to get a Certificate of Compliance from the city before they can buy or sell a property after a determination as to whether the proper permits had been obtained for improvements.
But Cotter said there was a lot of misinformation connected with the proposal, and that the plan itself needed to be better crafted. Inspectors, he said, would only go to a property if the details of the sale – such as how many apartments are in a building or how many legal parking spaces are available – did not match city records.
Real restate people who spoke at the meeting also said city records often conflict or are incomplete, creating a problem as to what is legal or illegal.
Nearly as controversial was the $150 fee that would be attached to each sale of property.
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