Bayonne's Chapter 16, rewritten in 2023, controls only a "covered rental unit" — one controlled under the 1973 ordinance and its successors that "continues to house a tenant who has not vacated the rental unit or been legally evicted from the rental unit since June 30, 2011". Where a unit is covered, the increase is CPI-based and capped at 5.5% of the current base rent.
Dwellings containing four or fewer rental units are exempt outright, so the two-, three- and four-family stock a small investor buys here is outside the ordinance whatever its tenancy history.
This is what makes Bayonne unlike the rest of Hudson County, and it cuts the buyer's way: control lapsed for every unit vacant on 30 June 2011, so for most buildings on the market the chapter is dormant unless a sitting tenant has been in place continuously for fifteen years. Ask for tenancy start dates, not the rent roll alone — that column decides whether the ordinance applies at all. Hardship needs operating expenses above 60% of gross annual income, and capital-improvement surcharges are capped together at 20% of the monthly base rent.
Exemptions
- Dwellings containing four or fewer rental units.
- Newly constructed dwellings first rented under a certificate of occupancy issued after 1 November 2011.
- Motels, hotels, commercial and industrial space, and government-owned housing.
- Section 8, §202 and §811 subsidised units, and units permanently decontrolled under §16-9.
- Annual cap
- 5.5%
- Vacancy decontrol
- Yes — rent resets on vacancy
- Unit counts
- 5+ units
Sources
- Bayonne Code Chapter 16 — Rent Control (2023 rewrite)City-hosted and read directly. §16-1.4 defines the covered class and the exempt dwellings, §16-4.1 the cap, §16-9 decontrol.
- NJ DCA — 2026 Rent Control Survey — New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, 2026 Rent Control Survey (spreadsheet, linked from the DCA Landlord-Tenant Information page; last revised 20 May 2026). The department's own caveat: the survey is only as current as the published codes, and the stated percentage may differ from the increase actually permitted.The survey states the 5.5% ceiling and the four-unit exemption and does not mention the June 2011 cut-off, which is in the ordinance text.
- Bayonne Rent Control Board — Bayonne Rent Control Board, (201) 858-6065