SENATE, No. 213

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

218th LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2018 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Senator  DECLAN J. O'SCANLON, JR.

District 13 (Monmouth)

SYNOPSIS

     Revises "Contractors' Registration Act" to include water remediation services.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

An Act concerning home improvement contractors and amending P.L.2004, c.16. 

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

     1.    Section 2 of P.L.2004, c.16 (C.56:8-137) is amended to read as follows:

     2.    As used in this act:

     "Contractor" means a person engaged in the business of making or selling home improvements and includes a corporation, partnership, association and any other form of business organization or entity, and its officers, representatives, agents and employees.

     "Director" means the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety.

     "Division" means the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety.

     "Home elevation" means any home improvement that involves raising an entire residential or non-commercial structure to a higher level above the ground.

     "Home elevation contractor" means a contractor who engages in the practice of home elevation.

     "Home improvement" means the remodeling, altering, renovating, repairing, restoring, modernizing, moving, demolishing, or otherwise improving or modifying of the whole or any part of any residential or non-commercial property.  Home improvement shall also include insulation installation, removal of saturated or water-damaged materials and other similar water-damage remediation, home elevation, and the conversion of existing commercial structures into residential or non-commercial property.

     "Home improvement contract" means an oral or written agreement for the performance of a home improvement between a contractor and an owner, tenant or lessee, of a residential or noncommercial property, and includes all agreements under which the contractor is to perform labor or render services for home improvements, or furnish materials in connection therewith.

     "Residential or non-commercial property" means any single or multi-unit structure used in whole or in part as a place of residence, and all structures appurtenant thereto, and any portion of the lot or site on which the structure is situated which is devoted to the residential use of the structure.

(cf: P.L.2014, c.34, s.3)

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

     This bill amends the "Contractors' Registration Act" to include, within the definition of “home improvement,” the removal of saturated or water-damaged materials and other similar water-damage remediation.

     It has come to the sponsor’s attention that certain businesses conducting water remediation services in the wake of superstorm Sandy are not in compliance with the "Contractors' Registration Act."  While the definition of home improvement under current law is broad, this bill is intended to ensure that any person conducting water remediation services must comply with the provisions of the "Contractors' Registration Act," including the requirements that such persons register with the Division of Consumer Affairs, secure liability insurance, and that certain contracts for water remediation services be in writing.