Locksmith Services in Paterson, NJ

Homes and locks in Paterson

• Eastside Park Historic District, east of downtown, has about 1,000 homes in Tudor, Georgian colonial, Victorian, Italianate and Dutch colonial styles, and is listed on the state and national historic registers.
• Lakeview, in the south of the city, below Interstate 80, is middle-class and home to the Paterson Farmers Market.
• Riverside, bounded by the Passaic River on the north and east, is working-class and mostly residential, with some industrial uses.
• Wrigley Park, north of Broadway, has seen new houses built in recent years.

An original front door on an older Eastside Park house may carry a mortise lock set into a pocket in the door edge. A worn one can often be repaired or matched to that pocket instead of cutting the door.

Businesses and buildings

After a fire in 1902, downtown Paterson was rebuilt with Beaux-Arts buildings, many still standing and usually four to seven stories tall. Outside downtown, shops line 21st Avenue in People's Park, Union Avenue in the Totowa Section and Market Street. Bunker Hill, west of River Street and east of the Passaic River, is mostly industrial.

Article III of Chapter 271 covers every building occupied by people, except those exempted under Section 271-8 (Section 271-25), and Section 271-27 requires every exit door to open easily from the inside. In a multi-story downtown building, a street-level business and the owner may hold keys to different doors, so confirm who controls each one first.

Car trouble in Paterson

Under Section 435-131 of the city code, the Department of Public Works removes snow from each street during that street's designated street-cleaning day and time. An unoccupied vehicle left there during those hours can be towed, and the owner pays removal and storage costs to get it back. During Winter Storm Stella in March 2017, the city also put emergency no-parking rules in effect on main routes including Main Street, Market Street, Broadway, 21st Avenue and Union Avenue.

If your keys are locked in a car on a street-cleaning block or one of those routes, say so when you ask for car lockout help.

Local rules worth knowing

Chapter 175 of the Paterson code opens with a policy statement noting that most households in the city occupy rented housing (Section 175-1). A landlord must obtain a certificate of re-rental approval before a new tenant takes possession of a unit, and the inspection must happen while the unit is vacant, no more than 30 days before move-in (Section 175-3). The inspection checks the unit against Chapter 271, the city's housing-property maintenance code (Section 175-4). A two-family house where the owner lives in one unit is excluded (Section 175-2).

Chapter 271 requires every exterior door, hinge and latch to be kept in good condition, and the main entrance door to have a working doorbell that can signal each unit (Section 271-27). The owner of a vacant building must secure it within 30 days and promptly repair broken doors and windows; boarding them up is allowed only as a temporary measure, up to 45 consecutive days unless the Director of Economic Development extends it (Section 271-49). This is general information, not legal advice.

Because the unit sits empty for the re-rental inspection, the gap between tenants is a practical time for lock rekeying.

Requesting service in Paterson

New Jersey Locksmith Pros takes service requests from homes, businesses and drivers in Paterson. Include your neighborhood or nearest cross streets and whether a landlord controls the main entrance. See lock repair and commercial locksmith service, or return to New Jersey.