Inspections of real property for purposes of reassessment

10. a. Regarding inspections of real property for purposes of a municipal-wide reassessment pursuant to R.S.54:4-23, in the case of a municipality located in a county wherein the county board of taxation is participating in the demonstration program established in section 4 of the "Real Property Assessment Demonstration Program," P.L.2013, c.15 (C.54:1-104), in the case of a county operating under the "Property Tax Assessment Reform Act," P.L.2009, c.118 (C.54:1-86 et seq.), and in the case of a county that has adopted, by resolution, the provisions of section 1 of P.L.2018, c.94 (C.54:1-105), the assessor shall make three good-faith attempts to physically inspect the interior of each of the properties in the municipality not later than December 31 of the year immediately preceding the year of the implementation of the proposed district-wide reassessment. Such inspections may be performed in an ongoing assessment cycle. If, after the third attempt to inspect the interior of the premises, access to the interior of the premises has not been granted by the property owner, the assessor shall assess the property using other observations and sources, including information on the property record card maintained by the assessor.
As used in this section, "good-faith attempt to physically inspect" shall mean that the assessor, an employee of the municipality acting on behalf of the assessor, or a representative of a revaluation company or other company hired by the municipality to provide internal inspection services, shall physically arrive at the parcel of real property and request entry to the interior of the property. If that person is unable to gain entry to the property to perform an interior inspection, the person shall complete the exterior inspection and shall leave a notice affixed to the front door of the property stating that an attempt was made to inspect the interior of the property, with the appropriate contact information prominently displayed on the notice.
b. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, in any municipality implementing a revaluation program approved by the Director of the Division of Taxation pursuant to P.L.1971, c.424 (C.54:1-35.35 et seq.), district-wide reassessment program, compliance plan, or other form of municipal-wide assessment review that requires the revision of all property assessments to current market value, that is approved by the county board of taxation at the taxpayer's discretion, the assessor may perform the internal inspections described in subsection a. of this section in a virtual manner, utilizing smartphone technology and protocols adopted by the county board of taxation. No such video recordings may be retained by the assessor. This virtual internal inspection alternative shall be available to all assessment function inspections within the county, including, but not limited to, revaluations, reassessments, the annual reassessment, and inspections related to added or omitted assessments.

L.2017, c.306, s.10; amended 2021, c.136, s.1.