Can you negotiate who's responsible for the C/O in NJ?

[Kevin Howell]

Newbie here looking for advice. I'm looking to house hack in New Jersey and have an agent sending me listings. But I noticed that in most of the multi-families for sale, it says that buyer is responsible for CO and all town permits. Generally the seller is responsible for these. I know town inspections and getting CO can be a headache with a lot of petty repairs (and you can't negotiate with the town for a CO). Wondering if this is something that I just negotiate with seller and if this is common for multifamlies?

[Peter Boutros]

@Kevin Howell

This is common for distressed properties, bank owned and short sales. I’d recommend submitting an OPRA request to the associated town this way you know ahead of time what are the open permits on the property. You can simply do that for free by emailing the town clerk the form asking them to email you all open permits on the property. It’s public information.