New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 5 - COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
Chapter 25 - REGULATIONS GOVERNING NEW HOME WARRANTIES AND BUILDERS' REGISTRATION
Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 5:25-1.3 - Definitions
Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
"Act" means the New Home Warranty and Builders' Registration Act ( P.L. 1977, c.467), and regulations promulgated hereunder.
"Appliances, fixtures, and equipment" shall mean and include, but not be limited to: furnaces, boilers, heat pumps, humidifiers, air purifiers, air handling equipment, ventilating fans, air conditioning equipment, water heater, pumps, stoves, ranges, ovens, refrigerators, garbage disposals, food waste disposers, compactors, dishwashers, automatic garage door openers, washers, and dryers, plumbing fixtures and trim, faucets, fittings, motors, water treating equipment, ejectors, thermostats and controls, including any fitting attachments; electric receptacles, switches, lighting fixtures, and circuit breakers;
"Builder designee" means the partner, officer, or director designated as such in the builder's application for registration and is the individual responsible for on-site building activity.
"Certificate of occupancy" means the certificate required to be issued pursuant to the State Uniform Construction Code Act, (52:27D-119 et seq.).
"Certificate of Participation" means that certificate which is issued by the Commissioner to the owner of each new home constructed by a builder who participates in the State Plan and which signifies that the home was constructed by a participating builder, and that premiums due have been paid.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs.
"Common elements" shall mean those elements listed in the master deed on file for each such development or unit as required under law for common ownership.
"Consequential damages" means damage to the home itself resulting directly or proximately from a defect covered by the warranty.
"Construction permit" means that permit required pursuant to the State Uniform Construction Code Act (52:27D-119 et seq.) before the construction of any new home is permitted to begin.
"Department" means the Department of Community Affairs.
"Director" means the Director of the Division of Codes and Standards.
"Division" means the Division of Codes and Standards in the Department of Community Affairs.
"General contractor" means a builder who is responsible for general construction, plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning, and electrical work for a single new home constructed for an owner on the owner's land.
"Major structural defect" means any actual damage to the load-bearing portion of the home, including consequential damages, damage due to subsidence, expansion or lateral movement of the soil (excluding movement caused by flood or earthquake) that affects its load-bearing function and that vitally affects or is imminently likely to vitally affect use of the home for residential purposes. "Major structural defect" shall have the same meaning as "major construction defect," as used in the Act.
"Mechanical and electrical systems" shall mean and include the following:
1. Plumbing system: Gas supply lines and fittings, and water supply, waste and vent pipes and their fittings; septic tanks and their drains; water, gas, and sewer service piping, and their extensions to the property line which tie-in to a public utility connection or on-site well and/or sewage disposal system.
2. Electrical system: All wiring, electrical boxes, and connections up to the public utility meter connection, excluding appliances, fixtures and equipment.
3. Heating, Ventilating, Cooling and Mechanical systems: All ductwork, steam, water and refrigerant lines, registers, convectors, radiation elements and dampers.
"New home" means any dwelling unit not previously occupied, excluding dwelling units constructed solely for lease, and units governed by the Federal Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act, 42 USC 5401 et seq.
"New home builder" means any individual, corporation, partnership or other business organization engaged in the construction of new homes. Whenever used herein the term "builder" shall mean "new home builder."
"Owner" means any person for whom the new home is built, or to whom the new home is sold, for occupation by that person or the family of that person as a home, and also means and includes his or her successors in title to the home, or mortgagee in possession. "Owner" does not mean or include any development company, association or subsidiary company of the builder or any person or organization to whom the home may be sold or otherwise conveyed by the builder for subsequent resale, letting or other purpose.
"Person" means any individual, corporation, association, or other entity, as defined in 1:1-2.
"Release" means an executed acknowledgement of satisfaction of the claim of defect required to be given to a builder by an owner after a claim of defect is satisfied. A release shall not prejudice the right of the owner to further relief from the builder pursuant to 5:25-5.5, Claims procedure.
"State New Home Warranty Security Plan" or "State Plan" means the combination of dispute settlement procedure, New Home Warranty Security Fund, and any other elements of the program operated by the Division of Housing and Development intended to give effect to the Act and these regulations.
"Stockholder" means any person who owns any share or share in a builder except that as used herein the term stockholder shall not include persons holding publicly-traded shares on any national or regional stock exchange.
"Subsidiary" means any corporation, partnership or other business organization which is controlled in any manner by any other corporation, partnership or business organization. Control is presumed whenever such organizations share any common officers, directors, principals, or stockholders.
"Warrantor" means the builder who constructed or transferred title to the owner.
"Warranty" means the warranty prescribed by the Act and these regulations.
"Warranty administrator" means that person responsible for administering any portion or all of the claims resolution and defect correction process of a private plan where that person is a legal entity different from the warranty guarantor.
"Warranty date" means the date of the first occupation by the owner or settlement date, whichever is sooner.
"Warranty guarantor" means that person responsible for securing the warranty, required to be offered pursuant to these regulations, on behalf of a private plan. The term shall mean and include warranty administrator where a separate administrator is not established.
