Rent control in Passaic, NJ

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

Research, not legal advice

These summaries are compiled from ordinance text and public sources and are dated at the point they were last checked. Rules change between checks — Newark replaced its whole registration regime in a single month — so confirm anything you are about to underwrite against the primary source or the municipal office named in the citation.

Capped at 3% since September 2025, plus a floor-area tax pass-through

Passaichigh confidence

Verified on 2026-08-17.

Ordinance 2494-25, adopted 2 September 2025, cut Passaic's maximum rent increase to 3% once in any twelve-month period, running from the section's effective date to its sixth anniversary. On top of the 3% a landlord may pass through the tenant's pro rata share of a municipal property tax increase, apportioned by the floor area their unit occupies and separately itemised.

Not stated here, and deliberately. Chapter 231's own coverage sections were not obtained in any published copy; the DCA survey records the ordinance as reaching structures of two or more units with a one-family house and an owner-occupied two-family exempt, while the city's tenant and landlord material reads as though there is no unit floor at all beyond the owner-occupied two-family. A wrong threshold here decides whether a two-family is controlled at 3% or not controlled at all, so the question goes to the Rent Leveling Board rather than into this field.

Two things travel with the 3%. The city's own Rent Leveling page still links only the superseded 6% ordinance, so the figure a landlord or a broker quotes may be a year out of date. And the increase is now gated on paperwork: §231-24 makes an annual tenant registration a precondition to any increase, and §231-25 requires 30 days' written notice itemising the previous base rent, the new rent, every surcharge, the effective date and the legal authority — carrying a certification that the registration is in order and a certification that the unit is in substantial compliance with the city's Property Maintenance Code.

Exemptions

Any multiple-dwelling housing space or dwelling unit built after 1996, for the amortisation period of the initial mortgage loan or 30 years from completion of construction, whichever is less — and the landlord must give each affected tenant written notice of the exemption, by lease or separate correspondence.
Any property subject to a payment in lieu of taxes, until the PILOT expires.

Annual cap: 3%
Vacancy decontrol: No
Unit counts: See note

In effect since 2025-09-02.

Sources

City of Passaic Ordinance 2494-25 — amending §231-23 to reduce the maximum allowable rental increaseThe signed ordinance, city-hosted and read directly. Adopted on second and final reading 2 September 2025, effective on final passage and publication. It also adds §231-24 (annual tenant registration) and §231-25 (notice), and repeals and replaces §§231-23C and D with the PILOT exemption.
City of Passaic Ordinance 2476-25 — Rent Stabilization of 2025The superseded February 2025 ordinance, which set the cap at 6%. Still the only one linked from the city's Rent Leveling page.
NJ DCA — 2026 Rent Control Survey — New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, 2026 Rent Control Survey (spreadsheet, linked from the DCA Landlord-Tenant Information page; last revised 20 May 2026). The department's own caveat: the survey is only as current as the published codes, and the stated percentage may differ from the increase actually permitted.The survey predates Ordinance 2494-25 and records the 6% cap and vacancy decontrol.
Passaic Rent Leveling Board — Passaic Rent Leveling Board, (973) 833-8610

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 Passaic, NJ