Under New Jersey law, most rentals built before 1978 need a current lead-safe certificate. Side by Side MRO is a NJ DCA and DOH certified lead inspector and risk assessor. We do the inspection, issue the Lead Safe or Lead Free certificate, and hand you the paperwork your municipality wants. Statewide.
Most NJ rentals built before 1978 fall under the state's lead-safe certification rules, tightened in 2021 under P.L. 2021, c. 182 (N.J.S.A. 52:27D-437.16). Owners of covered rentals must have the unit inspected every three years or at tenant turnover, whichever comes first, with no turnover inspection needed while a two-year lead-safe certificate is still valid (N.J.A.C. 5:28A), correct any hazards found, and file the certificate with their municipality.
If the municipality finds a violation, the owner gets 30 days to get the inspection done or start remediation. After that, the statute sets a penalty of up to $1,000 per week until it is fixed (P.L. 2021, c. 182).
For a property manager with 20 doors, every tenant turnover is a new deadline. That is the problem Side by Side is built around: one certified inspector, one price per unit, and the lab included.
Sources: P.L. 2021, c. 182 (N.J.S.A. 52:27D-437.16 et seq.); N.J.A.C. 5:28A (inspection cycle, tenant turnover and exemptions); NJ DCA 2025-26 Lead-Based Paint Inspection Methodology list.
Address, units, bedrooms, tenant contacts. Ninety seconds in the form.
Your town is either a visual or a dust wipe town on the NJ DCA list. You get the test type and a firm price.
A deposit confirms the appointment.
A certified NJ Lead Inspector at your property. In dust wipe towns, samples go to a certified lab.
Lead Safe or Lead Free. If anything needs correcting, we send a clear list and come back.
One company, start to finish. Inspection. Lab. Certificate. No back-and-forth between three vendors.
The test type is set by town, not by the building. NJ DCA requires dust wipe sampling in municipalities where at least 3% of tested children under six have elevated blood lead levels, and publishes the list. For 2025-26, Gloucester City is a dust wipe town and Camden City is a visual inspection town. Everywhere else, a visual inspection meets the requirement. The price is the same either way.
The inspector looks for deteriorating paint and lead hazards on site.
The inspector collects wipe samples from windows, floors, and surfaces. Samples go to a certified lab. If your property needs a wipe test, we handle the lab coordination. You don't need to ship anything or talk to a lab tech.
The certificate is the headline. The report behind it is what protects you. Every Side by Side inspection produces a written lead based paint inspection report your municipality, your owner, and your attorney can all read the same way.
Room-by-room findings, the surfaces we checked, the method used, and the result for each. Where NJ calls for lead paint testing on dust wipes, the certified lab results come attached with every sampling location noted. Photos of any deteriorated or chipping paint are included and dated.
The report lands on one of two outcomes. Lead Safe: no current hazards, certificate issued. Or a hazard list: the exact items to correct before we re-inspect. No vague "you have a problem" language. You get the rooms, the surfaces, and the fix.
A lead based paint inspection report is not a one-time form. It is the record that proves you tested when the law required, the baseline for your next three-year cycle, and the document that ends a tenant dispute before it starts. We archive yours and hand you a clean copy you can forward to an owner without redacting a thing.
When a lender, a buyer's attorney, an NGO board, or a municipal official reviews a lead certificate, the first question is whether the inspection was done by an objective, state-certified third party, not the property owner and not a contractor that profits from the repairs. Side by Side is that independent inspector.
We are a NJ DCA and DOH certified Lead Inspector and Risk Assessor. Our inspection is an arms-length assessment: we test, we document, and the result stands on its own. If corrections turn up, you're free to hire any contractor to make them. The report doesn't change based on who does the work.
A third-party lead paint inspection removes the conflict of interest that makes a report easy to challenge. Lenders financing a multi-family deal, attorneys clearing a sale, and NGOs answering to a grant all want a neutral certificate. An independent inspection is what holds up when someone pushes back.
We charge $125 to $150 per unit for the inspection, the lab work and the certificate. It is a per-unit price, so a two-family costs $250 to $300 to certify.
Bulk pricing for portfolios of 5+ units. Ask. For a full breakdown of lead paint inspection cost in New Jersey, including lab fees and multi-unit rates, read the full post.
The $125 to $150 per unit covers the on-site inspection by a certified NJ lead inspector, all dust-wipe sampling where the state requires it, certified lab analysis, and the written report with your Lead Safe or Lead Free certificate. No separate lab invoice, no trip fee, no per-sample surcharge.
When you compare quotes, ask whether the lab fee is included, whether there is a trip fee, and whether the price is per unit or per building. Those three answers decide what a certificate really costs.
We inspect statewide. The law follows the housing stock, so the most covered units sit in older housing: South Jersey row homes, the Camden, Trenton, Newark and Jersey City rental belts, and the multi-family corridors in Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Union and Mercer counties.
Camden County, Gloucester County, Burlington County, Salem County, Cumberland County. Our office is in Gloucester City, Camden County.
Mercer County (Trenton), Middlesex County, Monmouth County. Trenton is the only Mercer County dust wipe town on the 2025-26 list.
Essex County (Newark), Hudson County (Jersey City), Bergen County, Union County, Passaic County (Paterson), Morris County. All 12 Hudson County municipalities are visual inspection towns on the 2025-26 list.
Lead inspections cover every county in New Jersey.
If you run 10, 50, or 200 doors, the three-year clock and the turnover clock run on every unit at once. Bulk pricing applies from 5 units, and each inspection comes with a written report and photos you can drop into owner reports without rebuilding them.
A tip that saves money: pull the year built for each building before you request inspections. Anything from 1978 or later is exempt.
RRP certified to issue Lead Safe / Lead Free certificates.
Lab included. Bulk pricing on portfolios of 5+ units.
Same price either way. Your town sets the method.
Inspection, lab, certificate, remediation if needed.