Have you experienced leasing your home for a couple or months or years? If you are currently renting in New Jersey, are you aware of your NJ rental rights?
If you don’t, then surely this article will come in handy someday.
When leasing apartments or houses, tenant and landlord disputes are inevitable. If you are leasing in New Jersey, you must be made aware of the laws regarding NJ tenant rights. This way, you will act accordingly when a dispute arises.
NJ Landlord, Tenant Law
One of the first things you should be aware of is the presence of the New Jersey state legislature passed in 1976. This is the Truth in Renting Act. This act guarantees that all renters have free access to information about NJ renters’ rights.
The passed state legislation is very beneficial for renters to avoid fraudulent and malicious acts from landlords. This NJ rental law requires landlords to distribute a free booklet containing NJ tenant rights. The booklet is published by the state Department of Community Affairs. It is sanctioned by the government in which every landlord should abide.
The booklet provides up-to-date information on the lease contract, rights and requirements on paying rent, habitability, and much more.
Aside from the mandatory booklet, tenants should be informed of their rights especially when encountering common issues with their landlord. The renter should have the complete information about the maximum security deposit amount as well as how to address issues with major repairs within the rental space.
Fair Housing Act
This is one of the very important NJ tenant laws that every renter should know. That is the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.
This subject is very sensitive but needs to be touched upon so that everyone is made aware. Any type of descrimination is not allowed, more so NJ rental laws. The New Jersey fair housing act prohibits landlords from refusing rental service or mistreatment of tenants based on race, nationality, sex, familial status, religion or disability.
Required Landlord Disclosures
Mark rented a new unit near his office. He did so to avoid being stuck in traffic and being penalized for constantly being late for work. The apartment unit is habitable and enough for his needs as a bachelor. He signed the leasing agreement and started living in the area. After a few days, heavy rains struck. The area was heavily flooded, an important piece of information that Mark did not know. If he did, he wouldn’t have taken the apartment unit and looked for a place in a better area without the threat of flood.
This is a clear violation of NJ renters’ rights wherein the landlords are required to disclose certain information to the tenant.
These are the information:
- Flood Zone
Under New Jersey law, landlords must disclose if the rental area is a flood zone area. However, this does not apply to properties with two or fewer dwelling units, or to owner-occupied properties of three or fewer units.
- Child protection window guards
For multi-family properties, the landlords must include in the lease information about the tenants’ rights to request window guards for children 10 years of age or younger.
When Can the Landlord Evict a Tenant?
In New Jersey, these are the conditions in which a landlord may file for eviction:
- Tenant fails to pay rent
- Tenant repeatedly violates the lease agreement
- Tenant commits an illegal act on the property
- Tenant insist to remain within the property even after the lease contract has expired without coming to a new agreement
- Tenant’s conduct violates the peace and tranquility of either the landlord or other tenants
- Tenant willfully destroys or damages the property
NJ Rental Laws on Late Fees
The landlord is not always the villain. Sometimes your landlord turns sour when you don’t pay the agreed dues on time.
Before you hastily sign the lease or rental agreement, make sure that they indicate your landlord’s key rental rules:
- rental amount
- where the rent is due; for example, pay the rent by mail to the landlord’s business address
- when the rent is due; make sure that the document specifies special days like the due date falling on a weekend or holiday
- rent payment options; should you pay through check, money order, cash, or credit card
- notice amount landlord must provide to increase rent
- in the even that your rent check bounces, how much would the additional fee cost
- late fee charges and the amount of termination of tenancy.
According to the rental rules, the rent is legally due on the specified date in your lease or rental agreement. This is usually on the first of the month.
Once fees are due and no payment is received, it is the landlord’s right to begin charging you late fees for every overdue deadline. However, there are certain leeway for tenants who are senior citizens and recipients of other specified government benefits. The landlord must wait for five days before charging a late fee.
Conclusion
There is still a long list of NJ tenants rights where you can find them on government websites.
Those are the most common and basic NJ tenant rights that every renter should be made aware of. Though we are technically borrowing the property of the landlord, we, as tenants, still hold rights and responsibilities in a place we consider our temporary home.
