Lead-Safe Inspections in Kearny, NJ

August 27, 2026

Kearny requires a visual lead inspection for pre-1978 rentals, per the NJ DCA method list. The town wrote its own lead chapter in 2024 and priced the municipal inspection at $120 per unit, with one clause that removes that charge entirely. The certificate is filed with the Town Clerk and holds for two years.

A town built mostly of two-family houses

80% of Kearny's housing units were built before 1980 (U.S. Census, ACS table B25034), second only to East Newark among the towns on this site. More than a third of the whole stock, 5,873 units, dates to 1939 or earlier. That is old enough that the question on most Kearny blocks is not whether the law applies but when the last inspection was.

The shape of the stock matters as much as its age. 4,070 units sit in two-family buildings and another 2,427 in three- and four-family ones (ACS table B25024), so roughly two rentals in five are in a building small enough for the state's small-building rule to reach. Wood sashes, painted porch rails, and door jambs are where a visual inspection spends its time in houses like these.

What Kearny's own chapter sets

Kearny adopted Ord. 2024-5 on February 20, 2024, adding the lead requirements to Chapter 15 of the town code. The fee lines live in § 15-5, and one of them is the reason this page exists.

$120 per unit for the town inspection. That is the rate when Kearny does the work. Among the towns that publish one, only Guttenberg's $50 is lower: Hoboken starts at $125, Jersey City charges $200, Bayonne and Harrison $250.

$20 to file a lead-safe certificate. A separate line in the same chapter. The $20 state certificate fee is a different charge with the same amount, which is a good reason to ask the Town Clerk for the total in writing rather than assuming one covers the other.

Bring your own contractor and the town fee drops out. Under § 15-5.9a, an owner who retains their own DCA-certified contractor does not pay the town's inspection fee. Only one other municipality in the county writes it this way: Hoboken, in § 125-15E. On a four-unit building that clause is worth $480 in town inspection fees.

The certificate goes to the Town Clerk. Filing is the last step either way, whether the inspection came from the town or from a contractor you hired. Confirm the current procedure when you book.

What the state rule adds on top of Chapter 15

Chapter 15 sets a price and an exception. Everything else about how a Kearny inspection runs comes from N.J.A.C. 5:28A, including the provision that makes § 15-5.9a usable in the first place.

The town cannot simply refuse your contractor. N.J.A.C. 5:28A-2.1(d) gives the owner the right to hire any DCA-licensed lead evaluation contractor and leaves a municipality only two narrow grounds to say no. Read alongside § 15-5.9a, that is what turns the fee waiver into something you can rely on.

The contractor sends the copy in. N.J.A.C. 5:28A-2.4(a)2 puts the filing on the private contractor at the moment the certificate is issued. You are not the one walking paper to the counter.

A failure in one flat can reach the whole house. N.J.A.C. 5:28A-2.4(b)1 requires the other units of a two- or three-unit building to be inspected once a hazard turns up in one of them. With 4,070 Kearny units in two-family houses alone, budget for the address rather than the apartment.

A municipal fee is capped at what the program costs. N.J.A.C. 5:28A-2.2(a) allows a town to recover the cost of running its lead program and no more. Kearny's $120 is on the low side of the county, which is roughly what a cost-recovery rate is supposed to look like.

Turnover carries three duties, not one. N.J.A.C. 5:28A-3.1(a),(d) asks for three things at the same moment: the incoming tenant is shown the certificate, the lease carries a copy as an exhibit, and the town is notified. In a two-family house that runs per unit and per turnover, not once per building.

Where the certificate gets filed

Filing happens at the Town Clerk's office. Ask what the town wants alongside the certificate and what the $20 filing line covers when you book. If we handle your inspection, filing is included.

Kearny questions

I hired my own inspector. Do I still owe the town $120?

No. § 15-5.9a drops the town inspection fee when you retain your own DCA-certified contractor. The certificate still has to be filed, so confirm the filing and state fees with the Town Clerk. See cost.

Two-family house, both floors rented. One inspection or two?

Two units means two certificates, but one visit. Doing them back to back is what brings the per-unit price down.

The house is from 1925 and I repainted it last summer. Still required?

Yes. The trigger is the construction date, not the state of the paint. Fresh, intact paint is what passes the inspection; it is not what exempts you from having one. See exemptions.

How much does a lead paint inspection cost in Kearny?

$120 plus a $20 filing fee under § 15-5.9, and the town inspection fee is waived entirely when you hire your own DCA-certified contractor, which the ordinance expressly allows. See the pricing guide.