Mark & Galusha, Landlord Tenant Attorneys - Basking Ridge, Somerset County, New Jersey

Information is the key to any good landlord/tenant relationship. Being fully informed of your rights as a tenant and what exactly a landlord's duties and obligations are will help to make sure you are treated properly and fairly as a tenant.

In New Jersey, a tenant can only be evicted for cause. This means tenants can be evicted only under one of the 18 causes or grounds for eviction listed in the Anti-Eviction Act (N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1.). The 18 causes or grounds for eviction are:

• Not paying rent
• Disorderly conduct that disturbs other tenants
• Damage or destruction of the landlord's property
• Violation of landlord's rules and regulations
• Violation of lease agreement
• Violation of public housing lease agreement provision prohibiting illegal use of drugs or other illegal activities
• Not paying a rent increaseHousing or health code violations where:
  • The landlord needs to board up or tear down the building.
  • The landlord cannot correct violations without removing the tenant.
  • The landlord must end overcrowding or an illegal occupancy.
  • A government agency wants to close a building as part of a redevelopment project.
• Landlord wants to permanently retire building from residential use
• Not accepting changes in the lease
• Paying rent late month after month
• Conversion to condominium or cooperative
• The owner wants to live in the apartment or house
• Tenant loses a job that includes rental unit
• Conviction of a drug offense
• Conviction of assaulting, attacking, or threatening the landlord
• Engaging or being involved in drug activity, theft, or assaults or threats against a landlord
• Conviction of theft offense

It is important to understand that even if there is one of the above 18 causes for eviction present a landlord cannot simply "evict" a tenant by changing the locks or forcing the tenant out of the leased premise. A landlord must first go through all the steps in the eviction process and a judge must then enter a judgment evicting the tenant before a legal eviction can take place.

Mark & Galusha, Lawyers handling landlord tenant matters in Bridgewater, Somerset County, New Jersey

If you are a tenant seeking to redress your wrongful eviction, please contact Mark & Galusha, your landlord tenant attorneys in Bridgewater and Basking Ridge, New Jersey. For your free consultation with a lawyer from our Firm, contact us at 908-626-1001 or 973-440-2311, or tell us your story by clicking the contact us page.