Edison, NJ Rental Property Rules: Just Cause Eviction (2026)

The New Jersey Anti-Eviction Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1 et seq., is among the strongest statewide just-cause statutes in the United States and reaches all residential tenancies in Edison except for owner-occupied premises with not more than two rental units and certain other narrow carve-outs at N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(d). The Act enumerates the grounds on which a landlord may obtain judgment for possession, including: failure to pay rent (subsection a); disorderly conduct (subsection b); willful destruction of property (subsection c); substantial violation or breach of the landlord's rules and regulations (subsection d); substantial breach of covenants in the lease (subsection e); habitual late payment of rent (subsection j); refusal to accept reasonable lease changes at term end (subsection i); landlord seeks to permanently board up or demolish the premises (subsection g); landlord seeks to retire the building from residential use under specific procedures (subsection h); and other statutory grounds. Procedurally, the landlord must serve a notice to quit and demand for possession satisfying the form and timing rules of N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.2 (typically one month, but three years for certain causes), file a complaint in the Superior Court Landlord-Tenant section in Middlesex County (the Vicinage that hears Edison cases sits in New Brunswick), and obtain a judgment for possession; a separate warrant for removal is then issued by the court and executed by a Special Civil Part Officer. The Anti-Retaliatory Eviction Act at N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.10 et seq. independently bars evictions in retaliation for code-enforcement complaints, organizing activity, or rent-control enforcement under Edison's §17-4 framework. The Tenant Hardship Act at N.J.S.A. 2A:42-10.6 authorizes a stay of execution of a warrant of removal for up to six months on a hardship finding. Edison has not codified a separate just-cause ordinance, has not adopted a local right-to-counsel program, and has not enacted a tenant-relocation assistance statute beyond what New Jersey statewide law requires; the Anti-Eviction Act itself supplies the substantive protection. Self-help eviction (lockouts, utility shut-offs, removal of belongings) is independently barred statewide and exposes the landlord to civil-action remedies under N.J.S.A. 2A:39-1 (Forcible Entry and Detainer).