Rent control in Orange, NJ

2 rules apply — the local one first, then the county and state rules that bind alongside it.

Four or more units, 5% with heat and 4% without
Orangehigh confidence

Verified on 2026-08-17.

The City of Orange Township caps an annual increase at 5% a year, or 4% where the tenant supplies their own heat, and at 2% for a qualified senior tenant. Chapter 166 exempts housing of three units or fewer, and four-family houses where the owner occupies one of the units.

Housing of three units or fewer is exempt, and so is a four-family where the owner occupies a unit — so the chapter starts at an absentee-owned four-family.

The municipality's legal name is the City of Orange Township, which is why it appears under three different names across the public records this report draws on — and why it must not be confused with East Orange, West Orange or South Orange Village, each of which has its own regime. An exemption is not automatic: it requires an application to the Office of Rent Leveling and an inspection, and when it expires the exempted rent becomes the revised base rent.

Exemptions

  • Housing units of three or fewer, and four-family houses where the owner occupies one of the living units.
  • Hotels and motels.
  • Units where the rent is a factor of income, and units receiving state or federal subsidies paid directly to the owner.
  • Home Rental Rehabilitation Program units, during their tenure in the programme.
  • Section 8 and voucher units, and HUD-owned, HUD-subsidised and HUD-insured-mortgage developments.
  • New construction or substantial rehabilitation of an unoccupied multifamily building, rented for the first time: three years. A newly constructed addition to a pre-existing dwelling, rented for the first time: three years. A substantially rehabilitated unit that had been uninhabitable: one year.
Annual cap
5%
Vacancy decontrol
Yes — rent resets on vacancy
Unit counts
4+ units
Owner-occupied exemption
Yes

Sources

Rent control is municipal, and 120 of the 564 towns have it
New Jerseymedium confidence

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

  • NJ DCA — 2026 Rent Control Survey — New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, 2026 Rent Control Survey — every municipality, with its rent board, ordinance link, unit threshold, increase limit and exceptions.The department's own caveat: the survey is only as current as the published municipal codes, and the stated percentage may differ from the increase actually permitted. Rent control ordinances are adopted by each municipality, not by the state.
  • NJ DCA — Landlord-Tenant Information

Every rule for Orange, NJ