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

Newark does not run a general good-cause screen on every eviction beyond what New Jersey's statewide Anti-Eviction Act already requires; the city's own ordinance layers narrower, rent-control-specific protections on top of that. Section 19:2-14 (Retaliatory Eviction) provides that no landlord shall bring any action to recover possession of a dwelling unit as a reprisal for the tenant's efforts to secure or enforce any right under the Rent Control chapter, meaning a landlord cannot use eviction to punish a tenant for filing a rent complaint, petitioning the Rent Control Board, or otherwise invoking the ordinance.

6, added in 2023, which bars an owner from initiating eviction where the grounds result from a tenant's efforts to enforce the window-guard requirements or from complaints filed under that article, and creates a presumption of retaliatory conduct if the owner proceeds anyway. A. 22. The Administrator may appoint a hearing officer to decide these applications; a $350 fee applies when a hearing officer is appointed, and a $30 per-tenant fee applies to required notifications. Appeals of Administrator or hearing-officer decisions go to the Rent Control Board.