North Bergen, NJ — landlord and rental rules

North Bergen limits an increase to the change in the price index over the lease term and, notwithstanding that, to no more than 2.5% of the last prior base rent in any calendar year. The only small-building exemption requires the dwelling to have fewer than four units and one of them to be owner-occupied — both, not either.

The two conditions are cumulative: exempt are dwellings containing fewer than four units of housing space *in which one such unit is owner-occupied*. A three-unit building that is not owner-occupied is covered, and there is no free-standing small-building exemption. A sitting tenant whose tenancy began before the dwelling qualified for the exemption stays covered for the term of that tenancy.

2.5% is the tightest ceiling in this tranche, and it is a ceiling on the index term rather than a floor under it: in a low-inflation year the permitted increase is lower still. The increase is not self-executing — it requires an application to the Rent Leveling Board — and the landlord must give each new tenant a written rental statement naming the previous tenant, that tenant's rent, the date and amount of the last increase and the base rent, filed with the Board within ten days. Neither the DCA survey nor the sections read here records a vacancy-decontrol provision, which is evidence and not proof: confirm with the rent board before modelling a reset to market on turnover.

Annual cap

2.5%

Unit counts

1+ 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.

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 landlord of a regulated dwelling files a registration schedule with the Rent Leveling Board listing each unit, its room count, the base rent charged from 1972, the current base rent and the current total rent with its derivation. Where none is filed the officer may set a base rent from comparable controlled units, and the landlord carries the burden of proving any rent or increase is permitted.

That reversal of the burden is the reason this matters at acquisition: without the seller's filings a buyer cannot show what the lawful rent is, and the officer's comparable-unit figure becomes the starting point. Ask for the registration schedules in diligence.

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.