Camden building department

The City of Camden’s Building Bureau is part of Code Enforcement. It works out of City Hall, Room 403, 520 Market Street, under Construction Official James Rizzo. The bureau enforces the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code (UCC) for every construction and demolition job in the city. It also handles the inspections for a Certificate of Continued Occupancy. Camden County government does not issue permits for city addresses.

How the counter works

Camden runs the Building Bureau by appointment and by email:

• Permit applications go in by email to [email protected]. Use the construction jacket and the subcode tech sheets posted on the bureau’s Tech Sheets page: building, plumbing, electric, mechanical, fire, chimney verification, lead abatement and the application for certificate.
• Inspection requests must also be in writing, by email.
• No walk-in service. Call the day before to book a 30-minute appointment at (856) 757-7032. Staff will not serve anyone who arrives without one.

Digital plans only

The bureau no longer accepts paper plans. Plan review does not start until you send digitally transmitted plans with electronic seals that meet N.J.A.C. 13:40-8.1 and 8.1A. That means the signature and seal must be:

• unique to the licensee
• verifiable by a trusted third party
• under the licensee’s exclusive control
• set up so it is invalidated if the document changes

Send the plans as PDFs, or share a cloud storage link. The permit jacket and technical sections are still submitted separately. The bureau keeps one paper copy, obtained from Zoning, to stamp and return to you for use on site.

Work that needs no permit

The bureau’s FAQ repeats the state’s “ordinary maintenance” list. Highlights for homeowners:

• No permit needed:
  • painting
  • roof covering repair or replacement on detached one- and two-family homes
  • like-for-like siding on one- and two-family homes
  • replacement windows and doors in the same opening
  • flooring
  • gutters
  • interior finishes covering less than 25% of a one- or two-family home’s wall or ceiling area
  • repair of parts of a deck, porch or stoop that do not hold up a roof
• Permit needed: total replacement of a deck, porch or stoop
• Plumbing, no permit: like-for-like faucet, trap, valve and fixture swaps with no piping changes
• HVAC, no permit: duct repair, and replacement of motors, pumps and fans of the same capacity

Selling a property: CCO and C.R.O.C.

Camden requires a certificate before any property is sold or conveyed. The FAQ describes it as a Certificate of Continued Occupancy (CCO) and, under the city’s name, a Camden Resale Occupancy Certificate (C.R.O.C.):

• The seller is responsible for applying. The buyer can apply as the seller’s agent with written permission. The certificate is issued to the buyer.
• The application fee is $200, plus a separate $64 Fire Safety fee. The application is valid for six months.
• The certificate is needed for a change of ownership, not a change of tenants. For rentals, call Housing Inspections at (856) 757-7075.
• All open permits must be closed before the CCO inspection.
• A buyer who closes without the certificate stays liable for penalties of up to $2,000.
• If the building is not habitable, the buyer can sign an Agreement Not to Occupy and commit to pulling permits and getting a CO.

For an optional CCO requested outside a sale, the steps are:

1. Get a zoning permit from the Division of Planning (Room 224, (856) 757-7214).
2. Apply to the Building Bureau.
3. Pass four inspections: building, plumbing, electric and fire.

The fire fee is paid at the Fire Marshal’s office, 4 N. 3rd Street, (856) 757-7510.

Posted permit fees

The bureau’s Permit Fees page links fee sheets uploaded in 2020 and 2021. Each sheet notes that DCA fees are charged on top.

Item	Fee
New construction, Business/Educational/Mercantile/Residential	$0.0356 per cubic foot
Rehab, those groups	$32 per $1,000 (first $50,000), $24 per $1,000 (next $50,000), $20 per $1,000 over $100,000
New construction, Assembly/Factory/Hazard/Institutional/Storage/Utility	$0.0165 per cubic foot
Plumbing minimum	$61
Plumbing fixture or appliance	$13 each
Plumbing special device (boiler, grease trap, sewer or water connection, testable backflow)	$86 each
Electrical minimum (first block of 50 devices)	$61
Each additional block of 25 devices	$8
Service or panel, 225 amps or less	$61

Other offices involved

• Division of Planning, City Hall Room 224, (856) 757-7214:
  • zoning and sign permits
  • flood zone determinations
  • historic review and certificates of appropriateness
  • architectural review
  • Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment applications
• Fire Marshal, (856) 757-7510
• Housing Inspections, (856) 757-7075
• License & Inspections, (856) 757-7131

Codes in effect

The UCC is adopted statewide. The Department of Community Affairs lists the current model codes with an adoption date of August 17, 2026:

• IBC and IRC 2024, NJ editions
• National Standard Plumbing Code 2024
• NEC 2023
• IECC 2024 and ASHRAE 90.1-2022 for energy

Camden’s group fee sheets still refer to the 2018 IBC for their use-group descriptions.