Got a question for the Jersey City hosts - I bought a single-family home recently and plan to rent out some rooms. The rooms to rent are ready and overall the house is in good condition.

However, due to a leak that impacted the kitchen, I had to demo some of the drywall and a small part of the ceiling. This hasn't been covered up yet. The kitchen is on the first floor, and all the bedrooms are on the 2nd floor with a bathroom.

I'd love to start hosting asap and I wouldn't allow the guests access to the kitchen (though of course they'd have access to their rented rooms, bathroom etc.). Has anyone dealt with a similar situation and still was able to pass the housing code enforcement inspection (1 / 2 required inspections)?

I'm assuming that this situation wouldn't pass inspection, but one could argue that all the spaces the guests have access to (i.e. bedroom, bathroom) are safe and habitable + the guests wouldn't be exposed to the kitchen.

Also, do the city inspectors inspect other parts of the home the guests won't access (i.e. inspectors check the basement for water infiltration even though no guests would ever be living or even going down there).