East Orange, NJ — landlord and rental rules

East Orange caps an annual increase at 4% of the existing rent, for a periodic tenancy and for a lease of a year or longer alike. Chapter 218 exempts dwellings of three or fewer separate living units, so coverage starts at four.

Dwellings containing three or fewer separate living units are exempt, so a two- or three-family here is outside the ordinance — the opposite of the position one town over in Newark. There is no owner-occupancy exemption at all: a four-family the owner lives in is covered.

Ord. 9-2025 and Ord. 18-2026 were read from the municipality's official adopted-ordinance PDFs rather than treated as an unknown codification lag. The first adds the 2% qualified-tenant ceiling; the second replaces the former turnover cap with the application-based vacancy rule stated below.

Annual cap

4%

Vacancy decontrol

Yes — rent resets on vacancy

Unit counts

4+ units

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.

After a voluntary vacancy or qualifying court order, a landlord may apply before a new tenancy to set an uncontrolled rent. The unit must pass inspection; after approval the new rent is registered and controlled again, and the unit cannot use vacancy decontrol again for ten years.

Ord. 18-2026 replaced the former 5%/CPI turnover ceiling. Holdover expiration alone is not a qualifying vacancy. The application must precede the new tenancy, is decided within 60 days, and only one application type may be made for the unit in a calendar year. Initial fees are a building-size charge ($300 for four or five units, rising by tier to $2,000 for 61 or more) plus $300 for the unit; a failed inspection permits one paid reinspection, and a second failure denies the application and bars another for six months.

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.

An annual rent roll must be registered with the Department of Property Maintenance at $100 per building. No rent increase may be sought without a current one, and an application filed without it is automatically denied.

§218-14B charges $100 per building for the annual rent-roll registration. Filing from September through December adds a progressive late charge of $300, $500, $750 or $1,000 respectively. Those building-level amounts stay in prose rather than the per-unit fee field. Separately, a rent-increase application is $5 per unit and non-refundable. Failing to keep a current roll bars any increase from that tenant for twelve months, and on receipt of an increase notice a tenant may request a free inspection; material violations suspend collection until corrected.

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.