In NJ, do landlords must offer to renew the current leases?

Question

Let's say, tenant moved in and has one year lease till next year.  60 days before lease expires, can landlords simply tell tenant -- "No renewal ; please move out when lease expires." ?

It seems tenants can rent as long as they want ( unless you can evict them) and landlords can only raise rent according to each town's rent control law.

Mike Bonadies · Answer

Hi @Ethan Smith! First off, it you are new to being a landlord in NJ I highly suggest spending an hour with a lawyer and walking through what you can and cannot do. I'd find a RE Lawyer specifically and just explain you are a new to being a landlord in NJ and you want a general walk-through. It may cost $200+ dollars but its worth every cent. I did it myself and it saved a couple times already.Now to my understanding, NJ is a "eviction for cause" state. In other words, you cannot just terminate a tenant just because their lease is up. NJ law stipulates there are 18 reasons (I'm not 100% sure on the exact number) why you can terminate/evict a tenant and you must state which reason it is when you terminate them. I believe the verbiage is a bit tricky and I'm not experienced enough myself so when I do have to do this I just pay my lawyer to send the letters. It cost a $50-75 but well worth the headache avoidance if I mess it up myself.

That said, if you don't like the tenant you can offer a rent increase or other unfavorable terms and hope they don't renew. I've never had to do that so you probably want to confirm that with a lawyer.

Jonathan Herron · Answer

The anti-eviction act typically requires a renewal be offered unless you have cause for the eviction.  The process for an eviction is fact-specific and one mistake will cause your eviction case to be thrown out of court.

It is generally possible to have an automatic renewal in the lease to prevent the tenant from having a month-month tenancy.

Darren Sager · Answer

@Ethan Smith to answer your first direct question, the answer is you have to offer them a renewal based upon the fact they had a year lease.  You cannot simply just say get out.

That being said it's my understanding, if you're not operating in a rent controlled town (based upon the rental unit) that you can force their hand to leave by raising the rent as high as possibly without allowing them to take you to court for an unconscionable raise.  From my experience, that would be under the 10% mark.

You can offer them a renewal, with an increase.  If they refuse to pay the increase they'd have to leave at the end of their lease or technically they'd be holding over (which entitles you to double rent for every day they overstayed).

What I'm saying above is very simplistic and I'm not a real estate attorney who specializes in landlord tenant law.  I would highly advise also you speak to one.  I'm an investor who's held property here for more than 20 years, and managed a portfolio of them for others.

Angel M. · Answer

@Ethan Smith You may want to bookmark this site...

https://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/codes/offices/landlord_tenant_information.html

Joe DeLuca · Answer

@Ethan Smith Depends on the state.  In NJ, my understanding is that we must offer a renewal if we don't have grounds for eviction.

In NJ, do landlords must offer to renew the current leases?

Most Popular Reply