Elizabeth, NJ — landlord and rental rules

Elizabeth permits no increase in base rent above 3% over the base rent received for the previous twelve months, once in any twelve-month period. Chapter 5.70 exempts housing units of two or fewer, and three- and four-unit buildings where the owner occupies one — so five or more units are covered regardless.

One- and two-unit housing is exempt outright; a three- or four-unit building is exempt only where the owner occupies one of the units; five or more units are covered whoever lives there. So the same four-family is inside or outside the ordinance depending on where the owner sleeps.

The fact to diary: §5.70.250 sunsets the chapter on 31 December 2026 unless the governing body extends it, which it has done roughly every two years since 2000. A report dated near that boundary should not assume either outcome. The city's own January 2026 registration notice confirms the 3% and states that registration is required of all non-owner-occupied properties built before 1996 with three or more residential units.

Annual cap

3%

Vacancy decontrol

No

Unit counts

3+ units

Owner-occupied exemption

Yes

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.

Where the preceding tenant has vacated or been evicted the landlord may raise the rent by up to 20% of the base rent received for the previous twelve months, for the first year only, and that is deemed the maximum annual increase allowable on the base rent.

20% once is not a reset to market: a unit 40% below market needs two turnovers and two years, which is a different acquisition from the one a decontrol assumption produces. One vacancy increase per apartment per twelve months, and the landlord must file a statement that the vacancy was voluntary or lawful and not the result of harassment.

Vacancy decontrol

No

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 covered dwelling registers annually as of 1 January, filed by 1 March, and no increase may be charged or collected unless the landlord has complied. Separately, the purchaser of any property must obtain a certificate of occupancy before the transfer.

The resale certificate is the buyer's obligation, not the seller's, and it is a closing-path item: a zoning-officer inspection, and for a property of three or more units proof of a current New Jersey registration certificate and liability insurance. A rental one- or two-family or a multiple dwelling built before 1978 must also show a lead-free or lead-safe certificate, which is the statewide lead rule arriving through a municipal door. The fee is $60 plus $20 for each additional unit. Elizabeth does not require a certificate of occupancy on a change of tenant — one granted stays in effect so long as the use does not change. The rent-control registration itself carries no stated fee; hardship, capital-improvement and rehabilitation-exemption applications cost $50 below $5,000 and $100 above.

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.