Camden, NJ — landlord and rental rules

At the expiration of a lease Camden permits no increase above the average CPI for the preceding twelve months for the Philadelphia metropolitan area, or 6% of the most recent rent, whichever is less.

Not stated, and deliberately. §650-1 defines the covered class with the word "Includes" followed by items every comparable ordinance lists as exemptions — owner-occupied one- to four-family dwellings, hotel space, portions rented for commercial use — and separately defines "EXEMPTIONS" and then never lists any. Read literally the chapter covers owner-occupied one- to four-family houses; the Department of Community Affairs reads those items as exceptions and records Camden as reaching structures of one or more units. Both readings are defensible from the text and they produce opposite answers for exactly the building a small investor buys, so the question goes to the Bureau of Rent Control in writing before an offer rather than into this field.

Camden reads the Philadelphia CPI rather than the New York one every northern New Jersey ordinance uses — the two diverge, and quoting the wrong index models the cap a point out. "Substantially rehabilitated" is defined as capital improvements above $10,000, made in a single renovation programme inside one year and related to the whole structure. §650-27 identifies 1 January 1981 as the rollback date while §650-2A speaks in terms of the chapter's effective date; that base-rent wording remains unreconciled. Ord. MC-5610 did not move the general 6%/CPI ceiling: it added the 2% senior and disabled tenant ceiling.

Annual cap

6%

Vacancy decontrol

Yes — rent resets on vacancy

Unit counts

See note

New Jersey has no statewide rent control. Roughly 100 municipalities impose their own, with caps, exemptions and vacancy rules that differ town by town.

This municipality has not been researched. Read the municipal code — or call the clerk — before assuming rents can be reset on purchase or turnover.

A unit vacated voluntarily leaves control, and its rent may be raised to the level of comparable units within the same complex of buildings. Once re-occupied it is fully subject to the chapter again.

This is not a reset to market: the ceiling is what the rest of the building already charges, so a whole rent roll sitting below market does not lift itself one unit at a time. "Vacated voluntarily" includes an eviction for non-payment, but the provision does not apply where the premises are in violation of city housing standards.

Vacancy decontrol

Yes — rent resets on vacancy

The New Jersey Anti-Eviction Act requires good cause for every residential eviction statewide, with no small-landlord exemption. A month-to-month tenant cannot be removed simply by ending the term.

Practical effect for a buyer: an occupied unit conveys with its tenant, and a business plan that depends on delivering the building vacant needs a lawful cause for each unit before it is a plan.

Every rental dwelling unit must be registered annually with the Office of Rent Control in the Department of Code Enforcement, renewable each 31 January, at $50 per dwelling unit. The register is public.

An exemption from the rent cap does not relieve the registration duty — a newly built or rehabilitated building still registers. A tenant complaint costs the tenant $15 per unit, waivable by the Rent Regulations Officer.

Fee per unit

$50

Pre-1978 one- and two-family rentals must be inspected for lead-based paint hazards at tenant turnover or every three years, whichever comes first. The certificate is valid for two years.

Budget the inspection and any remediation into the turnover cost of every pre-1978 unit, not into a one-off line at closing.

Construction

Built before 1978

In effect since 2022-07-22.