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Key Takeaways:
Legal Grounds & Notice Requirements: Landlords can only evict tenants in Jew Jersey for specific legal reasons like failing to pay rent, lease agreement violations, or criminal activity. The correct eviction notice must be served based on the violation, with timelines ranging from 0 to 90 days.
Strict Eviction Process & Tenant Defenses: The New Jersey eviction process must follow precise laws, including proper notice service, court filings, warrants, and hearings. Tenants in Jew Jersey can defend against eviction if procedures are mishandled or if discrimination or retaliation is suspected.
Court Issued Warrant for Removal: Landlords cannot forcibly evict tenants themselves. Only after a New Jersey court ruling in the landlord's favor can a Warrant for Removal be issued, authorizing lawful eviction within 3 days.
All evictions in New Jersey must abide by the New Jersey eviction laws. The following is a basic overview of the New Jersey eviction laws that landlords must follow for a successful tenant eviction:
Have a legitimate ground for evicting the tenant from the rental unit and ending the rental period. You see, you cannot just evict the tenant just because the two of you ‘don’t get along well’.
Serve the tenant the proper notice type. Proper notice will depend on the violation the tenant has committed.
Then, the landlord files an eviction lawsuit in court. Landlords must do so in a special civil part of the Superior Court.
The court will schedule a court date and court hearing where the landlord and tenant (or their representative) will appear, and a determination will be made.
At the court date, if the judge rules in the landlord's favor, the court will issue a warrant to remove the tenant. In New Jersey, this is referred to as a Warrant for Removal and ensures the orderly removal of the tenant.
As a landlord, if you act outside of the New Jersey laws, you’ll be treading on a potentially dangerous path. Also, self-help evictions, retaliatory evictions, and those based on a tenant’s protected class are all illegal.
Doing any of these can have serious legal and financial ramifications for the legal process.
The eviction process in New Jersey can take several weeks, or even months, depending on court availability, tenant defenses, and the specific violation.
With that in mind, here is the step-by-step eviction process landlords must follow when evicting tenants from their rented premises, from the rental experts at PMI Prime Property, to keep you compliant with New Jersey eviction laws.
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What’s the Eviction Process in New Jersey? Here’s a Guide
Legal Grounds for Evictions
As already mentioned, New Jersey landlords must have a legal cause to kickstart an entire eviction process against their tenant. They are as follows:
Failure to pay rent after it is due.
Staying in the rental unit after the lease term has ended.
Breaking a lease agreement term.
Engaging in criminal activity on the premises.
Once a tenant has done any of these, you can begin legal procedures and eviction proceedings against them by serving appropriate eviction notices.
Eviction Notices with Legal Cause
Eviction written notices let the tenant know what violation they have committed, such as failing to pay rent or violating the lease or rental agreement, and what they must do within a specific period.
Some written notices are curable while others are not.
If curable, all the tenant would need to do is fix the violation within the grace period to continue staying on the property. However, if not curable, the tenant would have no option but to leave within the written notice period.
If the tenant in Jew Jersey does what the notice says, like pays the rent balance, then no further escalation in their eviction will be necessary.
However, if the tenant fails or if the tenant refuses to abide by the eviction notice, you can go ahead and file an eviction lawsuit.
Unlike many other states, New Jersey’s notice periods vary based on the violation, not on the tenancy being weekly, monthly, or yearly.
For example, habitual late payment requires a 30-day notice, while illegal activity on the rental property may require only 3 days.
The following are the various types of eviction complaints and written notices you can use and the New Jersey eviction process timelines:
Notice for Late Rent Payment. For failing to pay rent, New Jersey law does not require a landlord‑issued eviction notice before filing—the landlord may file for eviction once rent is overdue. However, state law mandates a five‑business‑day grace period for rent pay due on the first of the month before any late notice or charge can apply.
30-Day Notice to Vacate for Tenants on a Month-to-Month Lease. This gives a tenant in Jew Jersey up to 30 days to move out. You can also use the same notice when trying to evict a tenant who has no lease. Under New Jersey’s Anti‑Eviction Act, landlords generally need ‘good cause’ even for month‑to‑month tenants.
30-Day Notice to Quit or Comply. You can issue this notice when tenants fail or when a tenant refuses to abide by the lease or rental agreement. Examples of lease violations include illegal subletting of the unit, disorderly conduct, and causing minor rental property damage.
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3-Day Notice to Vacate for Illegal Activity on the Premises. Unlike some other notice types, this eviction notice isn’t curable and is for when the tenant violates federal laws or New Jersey laws. It gives tenants time to vacate the property within 3 days after being issued.
Some examples of illegal activities in New Jersey include excessive rental property damage or assault and threats towards other people.
Serving a Tenant with an Eviction Notice in New Jersey
You must serve the aforementioned written eviction notices using any of the following methods:
Hand delivering it to the tenant.
Leaving it with another occupant of the property who is at least 14 years old and who can accept the notice on behalf of the tenant.
Deliver it to the tenant via certified mail and by regular mail if the one you sent earlier remains unclaimed. If you do this, you must allow an extra 5 calendar days to account for the variable delivery times.
Post a copy of the notice in a conspicuous area on the rental property.
Tenant Eviction Defenses in New Jersey
A defense is a reason a tenant gives against the landlord's eviction complaint as to why the eviction complaint should fail. If the tenant's defense is valid, the judge's rule will not be in your favour.
The following are some of the reasons the tenant in Jew Jersey may give at the eviction hearing to avoid eviction:
The eviction notice wasn’t appropriate for the violation committed. For example, you notice the rent pay you gave the tenant was shorter than the New Jersey state’s requirement.
The tenant didn’t commit the violation you’re looking to evict them for. For example, the tenant had rent paid on time and has receipts to back that up.
The eviction complaint contained substantial errors, such as not mentioning the effective date of the rental agreement termination.
The eviction was in retaliation to the tenant exercising a legal right, such as reporting health violations to the local department.
The eviction was because the tenant in Jew Jersey has children, from a different nationality, different race, or belonging to any other FHA-protected class.
Warrant for Removal
If the judge rules in your favor, you’ll be issued with a Warrant for Removal. The warrant is a New Jersey Superior Court order, authorizing the removal of the tenant from the rental property.
The warrant for removal will be fulfilled by the court officer or special civil part officer, not the landlord.
The tenant then has at least 3 business days before a court officer or a special civil part officer can perform the physical eviction.
Conclusion
All tenant evictions in New Jersey must follow this exact script from start to finish to ensure the entire eviction process is legally compliant. Making mistakes anywhere in the process will only complicate things for you.
You may have to start right from the beginning, or even worse, land yourself an eviction lawsuit for performing an illegal eviction and pay hefty court costs, like attorney and filing fees.
If you would like to learn more about how to stay legally compliant as a landlord, read our blog post on New Jersey’s landlord-tenant laws.
If you have a question or need expert property management help, look no further than PMI Prime Property. We are a full-service property management company based in Northern New Jersey. We can help you minimize stress and maximize ROI. Get in touch to learn more!
Disclaimer: Please note that the information provided in this blog is intended for general guidance and should not be considered as a replacement for professional legal advice. It is important to be aware that laws pertaining to property management may change, rendering this information outdated by the time you read it.
