Jersey City, NJ Rental Property Rules: Rent Control (2026)

Chapter 260 covers dwellings with five or more housing spaces (four-or-fewer-unit buildings are exempt, though that small-building exemption was suspended for non-owner-occupied units through the pandemic emergency period under a 2021 amendment). Base rent is fixed at whatever the landlord actually charged and received as of January 11, 1973, or the first tenant's rent if the unit was vacant then; the Rent Leveling Administrator or Board sets base rent by comparison to similar units if records are missing. Under § 260-3, a landlord may raise rent only at the expiration of a lease or a periodic tenancy, and the increase cannot exceed four percent or the three-month Consumer Price Index change, whichever is less: with only one such increase allowed per twelve months.

55 per $100 above that, registered with the Division of Tenant/Landlord Relations and supported by a $75-per-unit application fee. For occupied-unit capital-improvement or hardship increases, the landlord must apply to the Rent Leveling Board, prove substantial code compliance with a housing inspection no more than six months old, and the increase phases in only once compliance and the Board's approval are confirmed. Exempt categories include hotels/motels, low-rent public housing, and newly built dwellings of 25+ units inside an approved redevelopment area. Existing leases run to their own terms; no new lease may be written outside the chapter's formula.