Old Bridge, NJ Rental Property Rules: Rent Control (2026)

Article I of Chapter 388, Rent Stabilization, applies to housing complexes in the Township and is administered by a nine-member Rent Stabilization Board made up of two landlords, three tenants and three homeowners appointed by the Township Council, per § 388-9. Section 388-2.A(1) sets the core cap: a landlord cannot request or receive a rent increase greater than the Consumer Price Index for the New York-Northeastern New Jersey region as of January 1 of the current year, or 3%, whichever is lower, and cannot raise rent more than once every 12 months for a given dwelling unit.

Any increase attempted outside the expiration of a lease or end of a periodic tenancy of at least a year is void under § 388-2.A(2). Real estate taxes passed through to a tenant aren't counted toward that cap. Landlords must keep the same level of service, maintenance and equipment during the article's operation, and any cutback in service can itself be treated as a rent increase subject to Board review and possible rent reduction under § 388-2.B. Exempt from the whole article are motels, hotels and similar buildings, buildings where up to one-third of the space is commercial, and buildings of two units or fewer, per § 388-12.A; multi-family construction completed after December 23, 1999 also gets a temporary exemption tied to its mortgage amortization period or 30 years, whichever is shorter.

A 2024 amendment (Ord. No. 2024-12) added § 388-12.1, a vacancy-decontrol rule giving a tenant of at least three years' continuous residence priority to move into another vacant unit in the same complex at the prior maximum rent for that unit size.