Trenton, NJ — landlord and rental rules

At the expiration of a lease or a periodic tenancy Trenton permits no increase greater than 4%, and 2% for a senior citizen or disabled tenant. Chapter 222 defines a dwelling as any building rented to one or more individuals or households, so there is no unit-count threshold at all.

There is no unit-count threshold in the chapter: a single rented unit is covered. What takes a small building out is owner-occupancy, and only up to two units.

Rents were rolled back to the levels in existence on 31 December 1996, with controls retroactive to 1 January 1997. The chapter was substantially amended on 9 May 2024. Beyond the 4% there are separate routes for tax, sewer and water surcharges, hardship, capital improvements and a staged below-market catch-up — and a tenant is entitled to half of any tax reduction.

Annual cap

4%

Vacancy decontrol

Yes — rent resets on vacancy

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.

On a previously occupied unit being vacated the landlord may set the new tenant's rent without applying to the Board — but where it exceeds the last rent by more than 25% the new tenant has the right to seek a reduction, which the Board must grant unless the landlord can justify the increase under the chapter or show the previous tenancy was not at arm's length.

Not a clean reset: above 25% the increase stands only until the incoming tenant challenges it, and the burden then sits with the landlord. A pro-forma marking a unit far above the previous rent is underwriting a figure the tenant can undo.

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.

Landlord identity registration is filed with the City Clerk, or with the DCA Bureau of Housing Inspection for a multiple dwelling, at the creation of each new tenancy. No fee is required for the filing; an amendment on a change of ownership costs $10.

This is Trenton's own restatement of the statewide landlord identity registration, and it repeats the statute's exclusion of owner-occupied two-unit premises. What it adds is the trigger: a filing at the creation of each new tenancy, rather than once.

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.