Bill Text: NJ A2248 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Authorizes municipality to adopt ordinance permitting tenant to remain in illegal occupancy with no immediate health or safety risk; requires expiration of ordinance upon evidence of economic stabilization.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-11 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee [A2248 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A2248-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RALPH R. CAPUTO
District 28 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Authorizes municipality to adopt ordinance permitting tenant to remain in illegal occupancy with no immediate health or safety risk; requires expiration of ordinance upon evidence of economic stabilization.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act protecting certain tenants for a limited period from eviction and supplementing P.L.1974, c.49 (C.2A:18-61.1 et al.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. A municipality may adopt an ordinance providing that, subsequent to the date of enactment of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), any residential tenant, lessee, or under-tenant who receives a written demand and notice for delivery of possession of the tenant's dwelling based on zoning or code enforcement activity for an illegal occupancy, as set forth in paragraph (3) of subsection g. of section 2 of P.L.1974, c.49 (C.2A:18-61.1) may request a stay of issuance of a warrant or a writ of possession from the Superior Court.
b. An ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall provide that the ordinance applies to only owner-occupied dwellings.
c. An ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall provide that the ordinance shall remain in effect only between the date of adoption until the number of new prime-rate foreclosure filings in New Jersey declines for eight consecutive quarters as reported by the Department of Banking and Insurance pursuant to subsection b. of section 15 of P.L.2008, c.127 (C.46:10B-49).
2. The Superior Court shall grant a stay of issuance of a warrant or writ of possession for a residential tenancy upon a showing that:
a. removal from the dwelling would cause economic hardship to the tenant; and
b. the zoning or code enforcement activity giving rise to the demand for possession pursuant to paragraph (3) of subsection g. of section 2 of P.L.1974, c.49 (C.2A:18-61.1) is not for a violation materially affecting the immediate health and safety of the tenant.
3. In a municipality adopting an ordinance pursuant to subsection a. of section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the clerk or other official designated by the governing body shall forward a copy of the ordinance to the assignment judge for the vicinage of the Superior Court in which the municipality is located.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would permit tenants to remain in owner-occupied dwellings that are safely, but, because of zoning codes, illegally occupied. Pursuant to subsection g. of N.J.S.A.2A:18-61.1, a tenant may be removed for good cause when a landlord seeks to correct an illegal occupancy. This legislation would supplement existing law to provide that a tenant in an illegal occupancy may not be evicted for a zoning or housing code violation, as long as the violation does not affect the tenant's health or safety.
Because of the current economic climate and high rates of unemployment, New Jersey tenants and homeowners are struggling to make ends meet. New residential foreclosures in 2009 rose 29 percent over the previous year. This legislation would allow a municipality, until the economy shows signs of life, to permit a tenant who is already in a stable living situation to remain in a dwelling if a landlord seeks to remove him or her to remedy a code defect that does not affect the health or safety of the tenant.
If enacted, this bill would allow a tenant to request a stay of issuance of a writ for possession if the tenant's landlord demands to remove the tenant to remedy a code violation giving rise to an illegal occupancy. The Superior Court would have to stay issuance of a writ if removal of the tenant would cause financial hardship to the tenant.
To aid the Superior Court in enforcing the new law, this bill requires the clerk of a municipality adopting an ordinance to forward a copy of the ordinance to the assignment judge for the vicinage.
This legislation would require a municipal ordinance to expire when the foreclosure rates for the State of New Jersey, a lagging economic indicator, decline for eight consecutive quarters.
