2 rules apply — the local one first, then the county and state rules that bind alongside it.
Verified on 2026-08-17.
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.
Exemptions
Sources
Verified on 2026-08-17.
New Jersey has no statewide rent control. The Department of Community Affairs' 2026 survey of all 564 municipalities found 120 with an ordinance and 444 without, and their caps, unit thresholds, exemptions and vacancy rules differ town by town.
This municipality's ordinance has not been read into this knowledge base. Check the DCA's survey — it names every municipality and gives the unit threshold and the increase limit for each — and then read the ordinance itself or call the rent board, before assuming rents can be reset on purchase or turnover. One statewide limit does apply everywhere: N.J.S.A. 2A:42-84.5 keeps municipal rent control off housing completed after 25 June 1987 for 30 years from completion.
Sources