Montclair, NJ — landlord and rental rules

Montclair caps an annual increase at 4.00% of the base rent, at 2.5% where at least one tenant is 65 or over, and allows a one-time 6% where the landlord has collected no increase on an existing tenant since 1 May 2020. Chapter 257's exemption is owner-occupancy, not size: a building of three or fewer units the owner lives in.

The widely reported "fewer than four units" threshold is not what the chapter says: §257-2B(1) exempts units in buildings the owner resides in that contain three or fewer residential units, and §257-2B(7) exempts single-family homes and single condominium and co-operative units. A non-owner-occupied two- or three-family is covered.

The figure circulating in press accounts is 4.25%; the codified cap is 4.00%. The chapter in force was adopted on 19 April 2022 and repealed the litigated 2020 ordinance outright, and it was amended again on 23 May 2024 — an amendment two years on is good evidence that it is operative. No substantial-rehabilitation exemption appears in §257-2B.

Annual cap

4%

Vacancy decontrol

Yes — rent resets on vacancy

Unit counts

2+ 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.

On the voluntary uncoerced vacation of an apartment the landlord may fix the rent at whatever amount is deemed appropriate — but no more than once in every five-year period for that unit.

The reset is real and the frequency is the constraint: a plan that marks several units to market across a short hold is modelling something the chapter forbids. It requires a certification of registration compliance, substantial code compliance, no harassment, a voluntary vacancy and that no allowance was taken in the prior five years, with the occupying tenants, lease periods and rents documented. A materially false certification forfeits the allowance for that unit for five years and rolls the rent back. The application costs $250 a unit.

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 covered dwelling registers its base rent annually on 1 April, at $10 per dwelling unit. A late notice costs $20 a unit, and failing to file within 45 days of the Rent Control Officer's notice prohibits any rent increase until it is filed.

In addition to the statewide registration under N.J.S.A. 46:8-27, not instead of it. The other fees are worth knowing because they price the routes out of the 4%: a legal rent determination is $25 a unit, an appeal of the Rent Control Officer $100, a capital-improvement or service increase $250 a unit and a hardship application $300 a unit. A substantial-compliance certification from the township must accompany the annual increase notice itself, and a tenant who successfully contests that certification voids the increase.

Fee per unit

$10

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.