New Jersey eviction law

For a tenant protected by the Anti-Eviction Act, you do not have to serve a notice to quit or a demand before filing an eviction for unpaid rent: the written demand and notice the Act requires apply to every ground except nonpayment and failure to pay a lawful increase.

N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.2

• Habitually paying rent late is a separate ground: it needs a written notice to cease and then one month's notice before you file. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(j) N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.2(b)
• You may not refuse rent paid within three business days after a warrant of removal is posted or a lockout for nonpayment, whether paid in cash, by certified check, by money order or through a rental assistance program or charity; the court then dismisses the case. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.16a N.J.S.A. 46:8-49.3 See Eviction process on the New Jersey page
• Rent the tenant used to keep utilities on after a shutoff warning caused by the landlord's nonpayment is not unpaid rent. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(a)

For most breaches you must first give a written notice to cease, and if the tenant continues, a notice to quit before you file. After a written notice to cease, a continued substantial breach of either of these needs one month's notice to quit: a reasonable rule the tenant accepted in writing or that was in the lease from the start, or a reasonable lease term that was in the lease from the start where the lease reserves a right of reentry. Disorderly conduct that destroys the peace of other occupants needs three days'.

N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(b), (d), (e) N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.2(a), (b)

• Willful or grossly negligent damage to the premises needs three days' notice, with no notice to cease first. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(c) N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.2(a)
• The notice must state the cause in detail and be served in person, by leaving it with a family member over 14 at the home, or by certified mail, followed by regular mail if the certified letter is not claimed. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.2

Evictions are heard in the Superior Court, Law Division, Special Civil Part. For a protected tenant you must prove one of the Anti-Eviction Act's good causes and give any notice it requires. After a judgment, a court officer executes the warrant of removal no earlier than the third day after serving it, not counting weekends and court holidays, and only between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. unless the court orders otherwise.

N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1 N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.16(b), (c)

• In a nonpayment case the tenant has three business days after the warrant is posted or a lockout to pay all rent due; you must accept it, tell the court in writing within two business days, and the case is dismissed. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.16a
• No judgment for possession is entered until you have complied with the landlord registration law; the court can continue the case up to 90 days and then dismiss it. N.J.S.A. 46:8-33 See Landlord registration on the New Jersey page
• A cash payment without the required receipt is a defense to a nonpayment case for the months involved. N.J.S.A. 46:8-49.2(c) See Rent payment methods and receipts on the New Jersey page
• If your lease lets you recover attorney's fees, a tenant who wins recovers fees to the same extent. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.66
• Prepare for the scheduled court date with the lease and amendments, any required notices and delivery records, a rent ledger showing payments and credits, and relevant bills, estimates or photographs. Organize the events by date and prepare questions for witnesses who can support the disputed facts. Follow the trial notice and the court's current instructions for attending and presenting documents. Keep later payments or settlement discussions with the file, and attend as directed unless the court confirms a change; a private discussion alone does not update the court schedule. New Jersey Courts: information for landlords

Only a court officer executing a warrant of removal may put a residential tenant out. Entering a home to take possession without the occupant's consent or the court process is a disorderly persons offense, and so is a lockout or forcible entry, or refusing to restore a displaced tenant, after an official warns you; the displaced tenant may reenter with a police officer present. Shutting off heat, electricity, water or other vital services to regain possession is itself a forcible entry and detainer, and a second conviction within five years is a fourth degree crime.

N.J.S.A. 2C:33-11.1 N.J.S.A. 2A:39-1

• Every warrant of removal must warn that padlocking or blocking a tenant still in possession is illegal. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.16(e) See Eviction process on the New Jersey page
• If utility service is wrongfully diverted, a tenant, a public officer or the utility can ask a court to have rents deposited to correct it. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-87 N.J.S.A. 2A:42-88(b)
• Rent a tenant spends to keep a utility on after a shutoff warning caused by your nonpayment is not unpaid rent. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(a)

You may dispose of property a tenant leaves behind only after a warrant of removal has been executed or the tenant has given written notice of leaving, only if you reasonably believe the tenant does not intend to claim it, and only after written notice by certified mail or receipted first class mail to the tenant's last known address and any other known address, marked "Please Forward".

N.J.S.A. 2A:18-72 N.J.S.A. 2A:18-73

• The notice must give at least 30 days after delivery, or 33 days after mailing, whichever comes first, to remove the property (75 or 78 days for a manufactured or mobile home). It must also say the property may be sold or disposed of, and that a residential tenant who claims it in time may take it without paying any unpaid rent. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-74
• Store the property with reasonable care in a safe place; perishable food may be discarded and animals released to animal control. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-75
• If the tenant says they will collect it but does not within the notice period or 15 days after the written response, whichever is later, it is conclusively abandoned. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-76

You may not serve a notice to quit, file for possession or substantially change the tenancy as a reprisal for a tenant's effort to enforce rights under the lease or the law, a good faith complaint to a government agency about a health or safety violation, or involvement in a lawful tenant organization. A notice to quit or a substantial change without cause after such activity is presumed to be reprisal, and you must rebut it.

N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.10 N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.12

• Before complaining to an agency, the tenant must first raise the problem with you and give you a reasonable time to fix it. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.10
• Refusing to renew a lease or continue a tenancy without cause counts as a substantial change. No reprisal is presumed if the tenant asked to renew more than 90 days before the lease ends or its renewal date, whichever is later. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.10(d) N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.12
• The tenant wins the eviction case if reprisal is proved, and can sue for damages and other relief. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.10 N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.11
• The reprisal law does not cover owner-occupied premises with no more than two rental units. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.13