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New Jersey month-to-month lease agreement
Written for New Jersey law, checked October 1, 2026 General information, not legal advice
A month-to-month tenancy renews each month until the landlord or the tenant gives notice. Choose month-to-month as the lease type, or set a fixed-term lease to convert to month-to-month when its term ends.
New Jersey rules that apply
- Ending month to month
- Good cause
- needed in most buildings; one month's notice to quit only where the Anti-Eviction Act does not apply
- N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1N.J.S.A. 2A:18-56(b)
- Rent increase notice
- Notice to quit
- a valid notice to quit and notice of the increase; no statewide cap
- N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(f)
Ending a month-to-month tenancy
If the Anti-Eviction Act covers the home, a month-to-month tenancy does not end just because you give notice: you need one of the Act's good causes, with the notice that cause requires. Only where the Act does not apply, such as an owner-occupied building with no more than two rental units, does one month's notice to quit end a month-to-month tenancy.
N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1 N.J.S.A. 2A:18-53 N.J.S.A. 2A:18-56(b)
More detail (3)
- A tenant who stays after the lease term ends and whose rent you accept becomes a month-to-month tenant unless you agreed otherwise. N.J.S.A. 46:8-10
- Personal occupancy by the owner of a building with three or fewer units, or a sale to a buyer who wishes to live there under a contract requiring the unit to be vacant at closing, is a good cause; it needs two months' notice and cannot be used before a written lease expires. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(l)(3) N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.2(f) See Good cause for eviction on the New Jersey page
- If the tenant leaves after an owner-occupancy notice and you then arbitrarily fail to live there for at least six months, or let another tenant move in, the former tenant can recover three times the damages plus attorney's fees and costs. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.6(a)
Rent increase notice
Partly readThere is no single statewide percentage cap for ordinary residential rent increases; check special property and housing-program rules as well as local ordinances. For a tenant protected by the Anti-Eviction Act, an increase is enforceable through eviction only after a valid notice to quit and a notice of the increase, and only if the increase is not unconscionable and complies with any law or local ordinance on rent increases. The statutes read for this page do not set a number of days for that notice for a protected tenant.
More detail (3)
- Where the Anti-Eviction Act does not apply, a month-to-month tenancy ends on one month's notice to quit, a year-to-year tenancy or tenancy at will on three months' notice, and a tenancy for any other term on one term's notice. N.J.S.A. 2A:18-53 N.J.S.A. 2A:18-56 See Ending a month-to-month tenancy on the New Jersey page
- A substantial change in the terms of a tenancy made without cause after the tenant exercised a protected right is presumed to be reprisal. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.12 See Retaliation on the New Jersey page
- Many municipalities have rent control ordinances; new multiple dwellings are exempt from their limits on periodic increases for up to 30 years. N.J.S.A. 2A:42-84.2 See Rent control and local rules on the New Jersey page