New Jersey Ordinances (2026)

Converting a garage to habitable space requires a NJ Uniform Construction Code permit statewide, with mandatory inspections for framing, insulation, electrical, and plumbing changes.

New Jersey requires beekeepers who overwinter colonies to register annually with the Department of Agriculture, and statewide beekeeping rules limit how far towns may restrict…

New Jersey's Right to Farm Act protects commercial farms from local restrictions, while the Department of Agriculture sets statewide livestock standards.

New Jersey's animal cruelty laws apply statewide, prohibiting neglect and overcrowding that constitute hoarding, with enforcement by humane officers and police.

New Jersey statute bans the intentional feeding of black bears statewide and authorizes wildlife regulators to address other species attracting nuisance behavior.

New Jersey regulates vape retailers under NJSA 54:40B and NJSA 26:3D, requiring licensing, prohibiting flavored vape sales, and applying age-21 minimum purchase rules statewide.

Under N.J.S.A. 24:6I-45, New Jersey lets each municipality decide whether cannabis dispensaries operate locally: a town may ban or cap retailers by ordinance. If it does not prohibit…

New Jersey state law prohibits home cultivation of cannabis statewide, even for adults 21 and over and registered medical patients, and municipalities cannot legalize personal grows.

Commercial drone operations in New Jersey are governed by federal FAA Part 107 plus the uniform state criminal restrictions in N.J.S.A. 2C:40-27, leaving little room for conflicting…

New Jersey state law (N.J.S.A. 2C:40-27) sets uniform criminal restrictions on drone operations statewide, including bans on flying impaired, near critical infrastructure, or near…

New Jersey sets a uniform statewide minimum wage under NJSA 34:11-56a, scheduled to reach $15 per hour, with limited authority for municipalities to enact higher local wage floors.

The New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Law at NJSA 34:11D provides up to 40 hours of paid sick time and preempts local sick leave ordinances, creating a single statewide standard.

The Coastal Area Facility Review Act gives the New Jersey DEP exclusive permit jurisdiction over development in the coastal zone, applying uniform statewide standards regardless of…

The New Jersey Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Act gives Soil Conservation Districts uniform statewide authority to certify erosion plans for projects disturbing 5,000 square feet or…

The New Jersey Flood Hazard Area Control Act sets uniform state floodplain and riparian buffer rules that apply statewide, with the DEP retaining permitting authority that…

New Jersey Stormwater Management Rules at N.J.A.C. 7:8 set uniform statewide design and water-quality standards that municipalities must adopt by ordinance, preventing cities from…

New Jersey common law and statute apply uniformly statewide to spite fences, boundary fences, and shared maintenance disputes between adjoining landowners.

New Jersey statute permits only non-aerial, non-explosive sparklers and novelties for adult consumers; aerial fireworks remain banned across every municipality with no local opt-in…

New Jersey's Air Pollution Control Act prohibits open burning of refuse, leaves, and most yard waste statewide, with narrow permitted categories overseen by NJDEP and the Forest Fire…

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service has statewide jurisdiction over wildland fire prevention, declares burn bans, and enforces forest fire districts that supersede conflicting municipal…

New Jersey issues concealed carry permits under NJSA 2C:58-4 with strict justifiable need replaced by shall-issue standards post-Bruen, while sensitive-place restrictions limit where…

New Jersey effectively prohibits open carry of handguns without a Permit to Carry under NJSA 2C:39-5, and long-gun open carry is restricted in most public contexts.

New Jersey strictly regulates firearm transport in vehicles under NJSA 2C:39-5 and 2C:39-6, requiring unloaded firearms in locked containers absent a valid Permit to Carry, with…

New Jersey splits the state into two frost zones: 2 feet 6 inches in Monmouth and Burlington counties and everything south, and 3 feet in Mercer and Middlesex counties and everything…

New Jersey's Casino Control Act, N.J.S.A. 5:12-1 et seq., confines legal casino gambling to a single city. State law defines an "approved hotel" eligible for a casino license as a…

New Jersey lets churches, veterans posts, fire companies, and other nonprofits run bingo or raffles only after two steps: registration with the state's Legalized Games of Chance…

New Jersey's Code of Criminal Justice defines a 'player' as a person who gambles only as a contestant or bettor and collects nothing beyond personal winnings, without otherwise…

New Jersey legalized sports betting in June 2018 under the Sports Wagering Act, N.J.S.A. 5:12A-10 et seq. Only Atlantic City casinos and Meadowlands/Monmouth Park-class racetracks…

New Jersey gives both condominium and planned-community associations a foreclosable assessment lien with a limited 6-month priority over a prior first mortgage. The Condominium Act…

N.J.S.A. 45:22A-46(a) requires association bylaws to open every executive board meeting to members and voting-eligible tenants, except conference or working sessions where no binding…

New Jersey associations enforce recorded covenants and architectural standards through their declaration, but PREDFDA's Radburn regulations require associations to make alternative…

N.J.S.A. 45:22A-48.4 bars a New Jersey community association from prohibiting or unreasonably restricting the installation or use of an electric vehicle charging station in a…

N.J.S.A. 45:22A-48.1 makes any association rule or bylaw that limits or prohibits display of the flag of the United States, yellow ribbons, or signs supporting United States troops…

N.J.S.A. 46:8B-15(f) lets a New Jersey condominium association impose reasonable fines only if the master deed or bylaws authorize it, and then caps each fine at the maximum monetary…

A New Jersey condominium or homeowners association can record a lien on a unit for unpaid assessments and foreclose it by suit in the same manner as a mortgage foreclosure. The lien…

New Jersey allows for-profit home food production only through a Cottage Food Operator Permit issued by the Department of Health's Public Health and Food Protection Program under…

The New Jersey Family Day Care Provider Registration Act creates a uniform statewide registration system for home daycares serving up to five children, with the state preempting most…

New Jersey has no microenterprise home kitchen permit and no way to license a home kitchen as a restaurant. N.J.A.C. 8:24-2.1(c)1 makes the person in charge responsible for ensuring…

New Jersey runs sobriety checkpoints, and the Legislature has never passed a statute authorizing or regulating them. The phrase "sobriety checkpoint" returns no documents at all in the…

New Jersey is a one-party consent state, so recording an encounter you are part of is lawful under N.J.S.A. 2A:156A-4(d), and there is no New Jersey statute that bans filming police…

New Jersey has no stop-and-identify statute. A full-text search of the New Jersey General and Permanent Statutes returns no provision requiring a pedestrian who is stopped on suspicion…

New Jersey put its vehicle-search rule inside the legalization act itself. N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10c, enacted as section 61 of CREAMMA, provides that the odor of cannabis or burnt cannabis…

New Jersey's statewide stormwater rule, N.J.A.C. 7:8, requires major developments to manage runoff with green infrastructure and expressly counts storing stormwater runoff for reuse…

The NJ Department of Environmental Protection may impose statewide or regional water use restrictions during drought warnings or emergencies under the Water Supply Management Act.

New Jersey has a full low-speed vehicle regime and no golf cart regime at all. An LSV must be titled, registered, insured and plated with the Motor Vehicle Commission, and it may be…

New Jersey's Noise Control Act sets uniform statewide decibel limits for stationary commercial and industrial sources, preempting conflicting local rules.

New Jersey state law universally governs the removal, titling, and disposal of abandoned vehicles, with municipalities required to follow the state procedures and notice requirements…

New Jersey's Predatory Towing Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 56:13-7 et seq., and its implementing rule, N.J.A.C. 13:45A-31, control every non-consensual tow in the state. A private property…

Under New Jersey's Anti-Eviction Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1, a landlord may evict a covered tenant only on a statutory good-cause ground. Non-payment under subsection a. needs no advance…

The New Jersey Anti-Eviction Act preempts local landlord-tenant law and limits residential evictions to specifically enumerated good-cause grounds statewide.

New Jersey sets no general statutory cap on residential late fees, leaving the amount to the lease subject to reasonableness. For senior citizens on government pensions and recipients…

To end a month-to-month residential tenancy in New Jersey, either party gives at least one month's written notice expiring at a rental period. Because the Anti-Eviction Act bars…

All New Jersey residential rental property owners must file a Landlord Identity Registration with the municipality and the Bureau of Housing Inspection under state law.

New Jersey caps a residential security deposit at 1.5 times one month's rent, and any later additional deposit may rise by no more than 10% per year. After a tenancy ends, the landlord…

A squatter cannot gain title quickly in New Jersey. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-30, thirty years of actual, continuous possession of real estate vests title in the possessor, and sixty years…

The New Jersey Right to Farm Act (N.J.S.A. 4:1C-1 et seq.) shields eligible commercial farms from nuisance suits and preempts unreasonable municipal ordinances when farms follow…

New Jersey applies state sales tax and the State Occupancy Fee to transient short-term rentals statewide, regardless of which municipality the property sits in.

Under NJSA 13:1E-99.126, New Jersey banned single-use plastic carryout bags and single-use paper bags at large grocery stores effective May 2022, the strongest such law nationally.

New Jersey prohibits polystyrene foam food service products under NJSA 13:1E-99.126, banning foam clamshells, cups, trays, and similar items statewide effective May 2022.

Under NJSA 13:1E-99.126, New Jersey food service businesses may provide single-use plastic straws only upon customer request, effective November 2021 statewide.

N.J.S.A. 45:22A-48.2 forbids a New Jersey community association from adopting or enforcing any restriction, covenant, bylaw, rule or regulation that prohibits solar collectors on two…

Under N.J.S.A. 2A:170-51.4, New Jersey prohibits the sale, gift, or distribution of tobacco and electronic smoking products to anyone under 21, with escalating civil penalties for…

New Jersey bars retail sale of flavored electronic smoking devices and liquid nicotine, every characterizing flavor except tobacco, under N.J.S.A. 2A:170-51.12, effective April 20…

The New Jersey Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act requires every household and business in the state to source-separate at least three designated recyclables from solid…

New Jersey controls add-on lighting with an aiming rule, a counting rule and a flat ban on flashing. Under R.S. 39:3-54, any lighted lamp other than a headlamp, spot lamp or auxiliary…

New Jersey gives dash cams no windshield allowance. R.S. 39:3-74 forbids driving with any sign, poster, sticker or other non-transparent material on the front windshield, wings…

New Jersey has never authorized lane splitting or lane filtering, and the words appear nowhere in the Revised Statutes. A motorcycle riding the stripe between two lines of traffic is…

New Jersey does not ban license plate frames outright. R.S. 39:3-33 makes it an offence to drive with a frame or holder that conceals or obscures the state name, the registration…

New Jersey has no statute prohibiting a radar detector in a private passenger vehicle. A full-text search of the New Jersey statutes returns no provision on radar detectors at all, and…

Studded tires are legal in New Jersey, but only from November 15 to April 1 of a winter season. There is no permit, no sticker and nothing to apply for, and the window does not appear…

New Jersey publishes no legal darkness for the front of a passenger car, because add-on tint on the windshield and on the two front side windows is prohibited outright. R.S. 39:3-74…