The New Jersey Truth in Renting Act requires most landlords to give tenants a plain-language summary of their rights under state housing law and to keep that summary posted where tenants can see it. The act, codified at N.J.S.A. 46:8-43 through 46:8-50, doesn’t create new rights. It makes sure you know about the ones you already have, and it gives you real remedies when a landlord either hides the ball or writes a lease that contradicts the law.
Which Landlords Have to Comply
The act applies to anyone who rents or offers to rent a dwelling for a term of at least one month, with three exemptions.1Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-44 – Definitions
- Buildings with no more than two rental units total, regardless of whether the owner lives there.
- Owner-occupied buildings with no more than three dwelling units.
- Hotels, motels, and guest houses serving short-term or seasonal guests.
The first two tests are independent. A two-unit building is exempt even if the owner lives elsewhere, and an owner-occupied three-unit building is exempt even though it exceeds the two-unit cap. If your building doesn’t fit any of these categories, your landlord is covered.
What the Statement Tells You
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs writes and updates the Truth in Renting statement, summarizing existing law in accessible language.2Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-45 – Statement of Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Tenants and Landlords of Rental Dwelling Units It covers the main areas where tenants most often have questions or get taken advantage of:
- Security deposits, including how much a landlord can collect, how the money must be held, and when it has to be returned.
- Eviction procedures under the Anti-Eviction Act, including the limited grounds a landlord can use and the written notices required before a court case.
- Habitability standards for heat, water, and structural maintenance, and the circumstances in which a tenant can withhold rent for unlivable conditions.
- Anti-discrimination protections under the Law Against Discrimination, which prohibits refusing to rent based on race, creed, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, disability, familial status, or lawful source of income, including Section 8 vouchers.3New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Housing Discrimination
The statement must be printed in both English and Spanish, and the DCA has to publish it on its website in an easily printable format.2Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-45 – Statement of Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Tenants and Landlords of Rental Dwelling Units
When Your Landlord Has to Give It to You
The landlord has two separate obligations: hand you a copy, and post one in the building.
For new tenants, the landlord must deliver the current statement at or before move-in, not just at lease signing.4Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-46 – Statement; Distribution and Posting by Landlords For existing tenants, the landlord has 30 days after the DCA releases an updated version to distribute it. The DCA is required to update the statement annually to reflect changes in state law.2Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-45 – Statement of Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Tenants and Landlords of Rental Dwelling Units
Separately, a current copy must be posted somewhere prominent and accessible to all tenants, like a lobby or shared hallway.4Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-46 – Statement; Distribution and Posting by Landlords That posting is for the long-term tenant who’s lost their copy and needs to look something up.
You cannot waive this right. If a landlord asks you to sign away your right to receive the statement, that waiver has no effect and the landlord still has to deliver it.5Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-49 – Waiver of Right to Receive Statement
Illegal Lease Clauses Let You Break the Lease
The act’s teeth are in Section 46:8-48. A landlord cannot offer or enter into a written lease containing a provision that violates clearly established legal rights of tenants under New Jersey law at the time the lease is signed.6Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-48 – Offer of or Entry Into Lease in Violation of Rights of Tenants; Termination of Lease; Exception
If your lease contains such a clause, you can petition a court to terminate the entire lease. Not just strike the offending clause. End the agreement. The statute also preserves any other rights or remedies you already have under the lease, so pursuing termination doesn’t force you to give up other claims.
There is one exception. If the tenant proposed the offending clause, the landlord faces no penalty and the tenant cannot use the clause as grounds for termination.6Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-48 – Offer of or Entry Into Lease in Violation of Rights of Tenants; Termination of Lease; Exception In practice this is rare, since the landlord almost always drafts the lease.
Your Landlord Can’t Retaliate
The rights in the statement would be worth little if landlords could punish tenants for using them. New Jersey’s Reprisal Law prohibits a landlord from serving a notice to quit or taking any action to recover possession as retaliation for a tenant’s efforts to enforce rights under the lease or under state, local, or federal law.7Justia. New Jersey Code 2A:42-10.10 – Reprisals Prohibited
Protected activities include:
- Taking any steps to secure rights under a lease, contract, or applicable law.
- Filing a good-faith complaint with a government agency about health or safety violations in the building.
- Joining, forming, or participating in a lawful tenants’ organization.
Retaliation isn’t limited to eviction. If a landlord substantially changes the terms of your tenancy by refusing to renew, raising rent, or cutting services in response to protected activity, that counts as an unlawful reprisal too.7Justia. New Jersey Code 2A:42-10.10 – Reprisals Prohibited A tenant who proves retaliation can bring a civil action for damages and ask the court for injunctive relief or other equitable remedies.
What a Landlord Faces for Noncompliance
A landlord who violates any provision of the act, whether by failing to hand out the statement, failing to post it, or including illegal lease clauses, faces a fine of up to $100 per offense.8Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-47 – Violations of Act; Penalty The fine applies per tenant and per violation, so a 50-unit building with no posted statement can generate meaningful cumulative liability.
Penalties are collected through summary proceedings in the Superior Court, Law Division, Special Civil Part, in the county where the property sits.8Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-47 – Violations of Act; Penalty For a landlord who also wrote illegal lease terms, the bigger risk isn’t the fine. It’s a tenant walking into court and terminating the lease under Section 46:8-48.
How to Get the Statement Yourself
If your landlord never gave you a copy, you don’t have to wait. The DCA publishes the current Truth in Renting statement on its Landlord-Tenant Information Service page at nj.gov/dca as a printable PDF, along with related bulletins on eviction law, security deposits, and discrimination.9New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. Truth in Renting The statute requires the department to make the statement available to the public at no cost.2Justia. New Jersey Code 46:8-45 – Statement of Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Tenants and Landlords of Rental Dwelling Units Downloading it yourself doesn’t release your landlord from the obligation to provide one, and it gives you the current language if you ever need to point to a specific right.