Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New Jersey

Re: Sidewalk safety

Many NJ towns have local ordinances covering these matters. Check your ordinances.

Traditionally, non-safety required repairs are not mandatory. However, if the Town has an ordinance covering this, and the cracka are unsightly, maybe have weeds or grass growing through, they may be able to enforce the ordinance.

If cost is a factor, maybe a call to the Mayor or Town Adminsitrator, if you have one, can lead to some cooperative sharing of the cost of repair.

Walter

Re: Sidewalk safety

I agree with Mr. LeVine's comments, but I would add that the enforcement officials are genreally given a lot of discretion. This is necessary because of the difficulty in writing statutes and ordinances specific enough that no interperatation is necessary. Additionally, the more general the statute/ordinance is, the shorter and fewer the statutes & ordinances will be.

Is the crack displaced (uneven)? Is the crack open, as Mr. LeVine suggested, this ,may allow the crack to collect debris or be a place for weeds to grow in them. If the statute/ordinance is for safety reasons and there is no tripping hazard posed, you can dispute the matter with the town. If the ordinance is for asthetics, then you will have a difficult time fighting it, but perhaps you can patch teh crack, which will be much less expensive.

Good luck,

Kevin J. Begley