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.
Exemptions
- Dwellings containing three or fewer separate living units.
- Motels, hotels and licensed rooming houses.
- Newly constructed dwellings rented for the first time, and dwellings vacated for substantial rehabilitation — a one-rental exemption with no term of years, after which every subsequent rent is subject to the chapter.
- Dwellings of five or fewer units, for the purposes of the Protected Tenancy Act only.
- HUD-owned, HUD-subsidised and HUD-insured-mortgage developments.
- Annual cap
- 4%
- Vacancy decontrol
- Yes — rent resets on vacancy
- Unit counts
- 4+ units