SENATE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 833

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MAY 2, 1996

      The Senate Community Affairs Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 833.

      This bill would extend to municipalities throughout the State the same authority, currently available only to shore municipalities, to enact ordinances which would hold landlords responsible for the actions of unruly tenants.

      Under current law, P.L.1993, c.127 (C.40:48-2.12n et seq.), municipalities in counties of the fifth and sixth classes (Atlantic, Monmouth, Ocean, and Cape May) may adopt ordinances which permit action against a landlord after at least three substantiated complaints, on at least three separate occasions in one year, against a tenant for disorderly or other prohibited conduct. The landlord may be required, after a hearing, to post a bond in an amount ranging from $500 to $5,000. The objective of the bond would be to ensure the landlord's payment for damages caused by the tenant, for future fines and penalties, and for municipal law enforcement costs.

      This bill would allow any municipality in the State to enact a similar ordinance, in recognition that the problems associated with disorderly tenants are not exclusive to shore municipalities.