New Jersey Eviction Protections for Tenants

Under New Jersey's Anti-Eviction Act, a landlord can evict most residential tenants only for one of the good causes the law lists, and a lease running out is not one of them. The landlord must prove that cause in the Landlord/Tenant section of the Superior Court's Special Civil Part, and only a court officer can carry out an eviction. In a case for unpaid rent alone, you can end the case by paying all rent due plus court costs by 4:30 p.m. on the trial date, and even after losing you can pay in full until three business days after a lockout and have the case dismissed.

Who the Anti-Eviction Act covers

The act, N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1, covers most residential rentals: apartments, single-family homes, condominiums, rooming and boarding houses, mobile homes, and lots in mobile home parks. It does not cover:

• An owner-occupied building with no more than two rental units, such as a two- or three-family house where the owner lives in one of the units.
• A hotel, motel, or guest house rented to a transient or seasonal guest. The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) says a hotel or motel resident with no other home who lives there continuously is covered.
• A unit held in trust for an immediate family member of the person establishing the trust, if that family member has a developmental disability and permanently occupies the unit; or a unit permanently occupied by an owner's immediate family member with a developmental disability.

In an exempt owner-occupied building, the landlord can end the tenancy without a reason at the end of its term by giving written notice: one month for a month-to-month tenancy and three months for a year-to-year tenancy. In covered housing, any lease clause that gives up your rights under the act is unenforceable.

Why a lease ending is not a reason to evict

A covered landlord may not evict you or refuse to renew your lease except for one of the listed causes. When your lease term ends, you can stay and keep paying rent, and a new owner who buys the building is bound by the same rule. How month-to-month evictions work explains the no-reason termination notices that New Jersey's law rules out for covered tenants.

The landlord can still propose reasonable changes at renewal, such as new rules or a different term. If you refuse them after written notice, the landlord can serve a one-month notice to quit and ask the court to decide whether the changes are reasonable. A rent increase works the same way: after a valid notice to quit and notice of the increase, the landlord can evict for nonpayment of the new rent only if the increase is not unconscionable (so unreasonably high that it would shock a reasonable person) and follows any local rent control ordinance. Rent protections in New Jersey explains how courts decide whether an increase is unconscionable.

The good causes and the notice each one requires

For several causes, the landlord must first serve a notice to cease, a written warning to stop the conduct, and can serve a notice to quit only if the conduct continues. The notice to quit ends the tenancy and must describe the cause in detail. It must be handed to you, left at your home with a household member older than 14, or sent by certified mail, followed by regular mail if the certified letter goes unclaimed. You do not have to move when the notice period ends; only a court judgment can require that.

Two causes carry extra protection. If an owner who evicted you to move in does not live there for at least 6 months and rents the unit to someone else instead, you can sue for three times your damages plus attorney's fees. If you are removed because of code violations, DCA says you may be owed relocation assistance before you have to leave, and a landlord who evicts you from an illegal unit owes you six times your monthly rent.

If you live in public housing or housing covered by HUD's project-based rental assistance notice rules, the landlord must give at least 30 days' written notice before filing a nonpayment eviction case. The landlord cannot file if you pay all rent claimed within that period. For federally subsidized housing, the court also requires a landlord to show it notified any agency that pays part of your rent.

How a case moves through the Special Civil Part

1. Complaint. The landlord files a verified (sworn) complaint in the county where the rental is located, attaching the lease, the property's registration statement, and, for causes other than unpaid rent, copies of the notices. A landlord that is a corporation or LLC must have a lawyer.
2. Summons. A Special Civil Part officer delivers the summons and complaint. The trial date on the summons will be at least 21 days after you are served.
3. Tenant Case Information Statement. File this statement with the court as soon as possible after receiving the complaint, and no later than trial.
4. Trial. You do not file a written answer, but you must appear. If you miss the trial, the landlord can get a default judgment; if the landlord misses it, the case is dismissed. Court staff may first help you try to settle; otherwise the judge decides. Bring your lease, rent receipts, canceled checks, letters, and printed photos, and bring witnesses in person, since the court does not accept their written statements.
5. Judgment for possession. A win lets the landlord seek your removal, but it does not order you to pay the back rent; the landlord has to file a separate case to collect it.

Defenses to raise at trial include:

• Habitability. If you withheld rent because the landlord did not fix serious problems you reported, deposit all the rent claimed with the court and be ready to prove the conditions, your notice to the landlord, and that you did not cause them. The judge can lower what you owe. Habitability rights in New Jersey covers withholding and repair remedies.
• Unregistered rental. The landlord must file proof of the property's rental registration, and the courts list an unregistered rental as a defense.
• Retaliation. A notice to quit or other major change in your tenancy without cause, after you tried to enforce your rights, joined a tenant organization, or complained in good faith to a government agency about code violations after first telling the landlord and giving the landlord a reasonable time to correct them, is presumed to be a reprisal. If you prove retaliation, the court must rule for you. The reprisal law does not cover owner-occupied buildings with two or fewer rental units.
• Notice problems. Missing notices, a notice to quit served too late, or a cause in the complaint that does not match the notices can defeat the case. Defenses against eviction covers how to present these.

Paying the rent to end a nonpayment case

If the landlord sued only for unpaid rent, full payment ends the case at two points:

• Before judgment. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-55 stops the case when you pay the court clerk the rent claimed plus accrued costs. The courts set the deadline at 4:30 p.m. on the trial date and count the landlord's filing fees and any other costs your lease lawfully permits. Pay in cash, by certified check, or by money order made out to "Treasurer, State of New Jersey"; the court does not take personal checks.
• After judgment. You have until three business days after the warrant of removal is posted or the lockout happens to pay all rent due plus proper costs. The landlord must accept cash, certified funds, or a money order, including payment from a rental assistance program or charity, and must notify the court within two business days so the case is dismissed. A landlord who refuses can face a $500 penalty, and you can file a motion to dismiss.

The court's tenant guide advises bringing the full amount the landlord claims to court even if you dispute it. If the judge finds you owe it, a lost job or medical bills do not excuse nonpayment, and unless the landlord agrees to a payment plan, you must pay by the end of the day to avoid a judgment.

After a judgment: the warrant of removal and your options

The landlord can request a warrant of removal, the court order that authorizes your removal, three business days after the judgment for possession. Only a Special Civil Part officer can serve it and carry it out. After service, you have three business days, not counting weekends and court holidays, before the officer can remove you.

Before or shortly after a lockout, you can ask the Special Civil Part office for:

• An order for orderly removal, which usually gives up to 7 more calendar days to move.
• A hardship stay of up to 6 months, available only if you pay all rent and costs owed and keep paying rent during the stay.
• An order vacating (reversing) the judgment, which the court may grant under Rule 4:50-1 for reasons such as mistake, excusable neglect, fraud, or misrepresentation. Filing this request does not stop the eviction unless the court orders it.

Requests for orderly removal or a hardship stay must be made within 10 days of the eviction, and you must notify the landlord of any request. A landlord who changes the locks, shuts off gas, water, or electricity, or takes your belongings without a judgment and a court officer's warrant is carrying out an illegal lockout. Call the police and file a complaint in the Special Civil Part to get back into your home and seek damages. For how each stage compares with other states, see how long the eviction process takes.