Renting a unit to a new tenant is limited to an increase not exceeding 5% over the last rent the former tenant paid, or the change in CPI over the lease term, whichever is less. The base rent for the new tenant is the former tenant's registered rent.
The DCA survey summarises this as vacancy decontrol. It is not: the ceiling is the previous tenant's rent plus at most 5%, so a long-standing below-market unit does not come back to market on turnover and a pro-forma that resets it is modelling a right this chapter does not grant. Two procedural traps ride with it — the increase must be charged within 60 days of occupancy or the right is waived, and where the landlord failed to secure a certificate of habitability the Board bars any rent above the former tenant's until it issues.
- Vacancy decontrol
- No
Sources
- East Orange Code §218-8B — First rental to a new tenant
- 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 records this as "Vacancies Decontrol (until re-rental)".