New Jersey Real Estate Attorney Blog
In New Jersey, most residential tenants are protected by the Anti-Eviction Act, which provides protection to residential tenants against evictions without cause. The fundamental principal of the Anti-Eviction Act is that the expiration of a residential lease does not terminate the tenancy. Recognizing the unfairness of forcing resident landlords to live with tenants whom they found to be unfavorable, the legislators added the “owner-occupied premises’ exception to the act.” See Fresco v. Policastro, 186 N.J.Super. 204 (D. Ct. Essex Cty 1982).
Residential tenants whose leases who are renting owner occupied properties with 2 or fewer rental units are not protected by the Anti-Eviction Act. Additionally, seasonal tenants (defined as tenancies of 125 days or less) are also not protected. Consequently, these 2 categories of residential tenants, as well as all commercial tenants are only protected by the Summary Dispossess Act. Under the Summary Dispossess Act, tenants can be evicted on one-month’s written notice once the lease expires. In three recent cases that we handled, the Court was asked to determine whether the tenants were protected by the Anti-Eviction Act or whether the Summary Dispossess Act would apply.
In one matter we recently handled, the Court’s decision hinged upon the definition of the term “owner-occupied premises.” It was not disputed that the tenant and the landlord both occupied houses on the same property. However, the houses were not attached. In the matter of Fresco v. Policastro, 186 N.J. Super 204 (1982), the Court examined an identical issue involving a nearly identical set of facts. The Plaintiff in that matter also contended that “good cause” was not necessary to evict because the property was owner-occupied. The Defendant argued that “owner-occupied premises” applies only to cases in which the Landlord and Tenant occupy the same building. The Court ultimately determined in Fresco, that the “owner-occupied premises” exception in the Anti-Eviction Act was included to prevent injustice to resident landlords and “owner-occupied premises” includes not only properties in which the landlord and tenant share the same building, but all properties in which the landlord and tenant share the same property, regardless of whether the “[landlord] lives above, below, in front of or behind, or alongside an unfavorable tenant.” While the Anti-Eviction Act does not define the word “premises,” the Fresco Court considered other Acts in which the Legislature defined “premises” broadly as house, buildings, lands or tenements.” Furthermore, In Ford Motor Company v. Labor ad Industry Department, 5 NJ 494 (1950), the Supreme Court Defined premises as “the property conveyed in a deed.” Additionally, in the matter of McQueen v. Brown, 342 N.J. Super 120, 775 A.2D, 748 (2001), the Court remarked that even if the Landlord were only occupying the property for eight or nine days per month, the property would still be considered to be owner-occupied for the purposes of satisfying the exception to the Anti-Eviction Act.
Finally, while the Anti-Eviction Act does not define owner-occupied premises, the Rent Security Deposit Act does provide us with guidance. In the Rent Security Deposit Act, “owner-occupied premises” was defined as “rental premises that may consist of one or more buildings containing more than one residential unit, at least one unit of which is legally occupied by a landlord as the landlord’s place of residence.”