All Forum Posts by: Nick M.

Like @Kevin K. says, your best bet is to determine the status of the property you end up purchasing, most in Hudson County are rent regulated unless owner occupied (under 3 units), 4 units and above are generally rent regulated regardless.

Contact John Salierno he knows the laws well.

@Alex Kartalyan I second the advice that @Ajo George has given.  It will be somewhat more work, but in the long run a 2 family will provide much better opportunities as long as you do your due dilligence regarding the property especially a good inspection.

If current owner issues the notice the existing tenant would have 60 days/2 months from the end of the existing lease.  If lease is month to month that could be up to almost 3 months.  @Jessica Zolotorofe is correct, there are different issues at work, however, it is important to do everything correctly to not expose yourself as a new homeowner to treble damages by illegally evicting someone.  It is better to have the current owner give notice, again, that is not always possible because they may fear that your loan may not be approved and then they would have to potentially find a new tenant.

@Jessica Zolotorofe

Owner has to occupy unit within six i months, the duration of the occupancy isnt specified.

CHAPTER 20: WRONGFUL EVICTIONS FROM RESIDENTIAL RENTAL PREMISES

46A:20-1. Landlord liability for wrongful evictions

a. A landlord shall be liable to a tenant in a civil action for treble damages plus the

tenant’s attorney fees and costs, and any other appropriate legal or equitable relief, if:

(1) the landlord serves the tenant with notice alleging the landlord seeks to personally

occupy the rental premises under subsection g. of 46A:15-1, after which the tenant vacates the

rental premises and the landlord arbitrarily fails to personally occupy the rental premises or to

effectuate a contract of sale for the rental premises within six months, but instead permits

personal occupancy of the premises by another tenant or registration or conversion of the

premises by the Department pursuant to The Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure

Act, N.J.S. 45:22A-21 et seq.; or

(2) the landlord who is a purchaser of the rental premises pursuant to a contract that

requires the tenant to vacate in accordance with subsection g. of 46A:15-1, after which time the

tenant vacates the rental premises, thereafter arbitrarily fails to personally occupy the rental

premises within six months, but instead permits personal occupancy of the premises by another

tenant or registration of conversion of the premises by the Department pursuant to The Planned

Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act, N.J.S. et seq.; or 

According to NJ Landlord Tenant law, you would have to stay for 6 months.  There is a good landlord tenant attorney on Park Avenin Weehawken if you need advice. Or PM me.  Also, if you buy as an investment property most lenders want 25% down so owner occupying may be a better way to go anyways.

Only way to "decontrol" is to owner occupy a 2/3 family in weehawken.  4 and above are always rent regulated.  So if you were to purchase and owner occupy one unit theother would also become not rent regulated.  However if you were to move out then both units would be rent regulated at their current rent, with only a rent increase of the CPI or 4% whichever is less.  You can call the Weehawken clerks office and they will get you a copy of the rent control ordinance.

@Michael Elfant @Ryan Goldfarb I agree 100% regarding the convenience of Uber/Lyft/car sharing as well as CitiBikes in Hudson county.  At certain price points people may not want their own vehicle, however I have had every renter (10-15) in past year and a half enquire about parking, even before laundry in some cases.  This could be based on a number of things, but if you look at the cost of having a car: 200 lease 100 insurance 100 gas 200 parking, it is already much cheaper to use light rail bus and uber.  So it appears to be a convenience "freedom" issue rather than a cost.  On another note I am looking for ways to encourage Union City, Weehawken, West NY, North Bergen to join together and get Citi Bike as that basically connects them to Manhattan with one bike share system.

You can still do owner occupy in Weehawken as well.  It really comes down to the cliches of real estate.  Location Location Location, as well as square footage.  And the fact that in Weehawken you can be competing with individuals/investors who are willing to purchase a 600,000 2fam and put another 200,000 into it either to live in or to capture the rent from people moving from manhattan/hoboken who will pay for more space.  Also anything with parking is premium priced, as well as anything closer to Kings Bluff.

No more higher than JC which has been mandated to conduct a reval as well and Union City, where a 3bd condo can have taxes over $15,000.  Make the deal, make it work for you and if taxes go up too much for you, just raise the rent.