Rent control in Atlantic City, NJ

2 rules apply — the local one first, then the county and state rules that bind alongside it.

CPI only, and forfeited for any year the landlord does not claim it
Atlantic Cityhigh confidence

Verified on 2026-08-17.

Atlantic City permits an annual increase equal to the increase in the housing component of the CPI for the region, with no hearing — but only where the landlord serves the calculation on the tenant and files it with the Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs at least 30 days beforehand. Missing that makes the increase void for the year and repayable.

Chapter 41 covers apartments generally, efficiencies included, and the only unit-count carve-outs are an owner-occupied duplex or triplex and the post-1987 new-construction rule — so a non-owner-occupied two-family is covered.

The "price index" is not the headline CPI: §41-1 defines it as the housing component of the CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers for the region, published quarterly by the Office, and the landlord must use the latest one published. The use-it-or-lose-it rule is the underwriting trap here — a seller who has skipped notices has not banked the foregone increases, and they cannot be recovered.

Exemptions

  • Any owner-occupied duplex or triplex (§41-8D).
  • Apartments in buildings of three or more units constructed after 25 June 1987, per N.J.S.A. 2A:42-84.2 (§41-8C). The city's own webpage says four or more units; the ordinance says three, and the ordinance governs.
  • Federally subsidised housing including Section 8, buildings with HUD mortgages, and apartments renovated under the Rental Rehabilitation Program.
  • All public housing.
  • Seasonal rentals under N.J.S.A. 2A:18-59.2.
Vacancy decontrol
Yes — rent resets on vacancy
Unit counts
1+ units
Owner-occupied exemption
Yes

Sources

Rent control is municipal, and 120 of the 564 towns have it
New Jerseymedium confidence

Verified on 2026-08-17.

New Jersey has no statewide rent control. The Department of Community Affairs' 2026 survey of all 564 municipalities found 120 with an ordinance and 444 without, and their caps, unit thresholds, exemptions and vacancy rules differ town by town.

This municipality's ordinance has not been read into this knowledge base. Check the DCA's survey — it names every municipality and gives the unit threshold and the increase limit for each — and then read the ordinance itself or call the rent board, before assuming rents can be reset on purchase or turnover. One statewide limit does apply everywhere: N.J.S.A. 2A:42-84.5 keeps municipal rent control off housing completed after 25 June 1987 for 30 years from completion.

Sources

  • NJ DCA — 2026 Rent Control Survey — New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, 2026 Rent Control Survey — every municipality, with its rent board, ordinance link, unit threshold, increase limit and exceptions.The department's own caveat: the survey is only as current as the published municipal codes, and the stated percentage may differ from the increase actually permitted. Rent control ordinances are adopted by each municipality, not by the state.
  • NJ DCA — Landlord-Tenant Information

Every rule for Atlantic City, NJ