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March 23, 2018 Posted in Landlord/Tenant Law Share

In New Jersey, residential landlords have a duty to maintain their units in such a way that they are fit for residential purposes through the term of the lease.  Any damage caused to “vital facilities” that influence the habitability of the unit must be reasonably repaired in a timely manner.

March 9, 2018 Posted in Landlord/Tenant Law Share

The landlord-tenant relationship is a complicated one, in which there are often no true heroes or villains — in many cases, conflicts arise from basic differences in what the landlord needs, and what the tenant needs.

February 23, 2018 Posted in Landlord/Tenant Law Share

In New York, landlords are entitled to include a no-pet clause in the lease agreement that prohibits the tenant from keeping a pet in the unit (and in the larger development, generally).  It is often the case, however, that tenants attempt to hide their ownership of a pet or otherwise violate the contract — perhaps in the hopes that the landlord will simply resign themselves to the presence of the pet.

February 9, 2018 Posted in Landlord/Tenant Law Share

In New York, a tenant who creates a noise nuisance — same as any other nuisance — may give their landlord the right to evict them from the property (or at least to compel the tenant to stop the nuisance).

January 31, 2018 Posted in Landlord/Tenant Law Share

Landlords are often put in a complicated position with regard to problematic tenants.  As a New Jersey landlord, you may be concerned about whether one of your tenants is breaching the rental contract, or whether they are causing permanent damage to the unit that will require significant repairs.  In some instances, other tenants may complain about the activities of one tenant, and may request that you resolve the matter.

January 17, 2018 Posted in Landlord/Tenant Law Share

In New York City alone, there are a substantial number of rent-regulated apartment units, with roughly 27k rent controlled apartments and 1.03M rent stabilized apartments as of a 2014 housing survey, and many more such units scattered statewide.  The regulations surrounding rent control units (and more generally, rent regulated units) can be quite complicated to understand for the layperson.  Due to the regulations affecting rent-regulated properties in the state of New York, ownership of a rent-controlled property is seen as a liability by some landlords.

December 29, 2017 Posted in Landlord/Tenant Law Share

When a tenant vacates their rental property (and the tenancy ends), some personal property may be left behind.  In New Jersey, however, the Abandoned Tenant Property Statute applies certain restrictions to what landlords may do with such property.  Fundamentally, a landlord may not dispose of personal property left by a tenant without first allowing the tenant to recover their abandoned personal belongings — and this requirement is applicable in situations where the tenant was legally evicted or otherwise is not current on rent payments.

December 29, 2017 Share

In New York, there are a number of differences between commercial and residential leases that are worth noting.  As a landlord, your duties and obligations to the tenant may be substantially affected by the nature of the lease (commercial/residential).

December 15, 2017 Posted in Landlord/Tenant Law Share

In the state of New York, commercial landlords do not have a duty to mitigate their damages when a tenant is delinquent in their payments, vacates their property, and breaks their existing lease.  This is an incredibly favorable state of affairs for the commercial landlord, as the tenant cannot undermine the damage claim of the landlord (in a lawsuit to recover unpaid rent) by asserting that the landlord failed to make reasonable efforts to find a suitable replacement tenant.