West New York, NJ Rental Property Rules: Rent Increase Notice (2026)

Two sections of the West New York Town Code govern how a rent increase is noticed. Section 312-2 requires every notice to be served on the tenant by certified mail, return receipt requested, or another form of receipted delivery, at least one month before the effective date, which is the date rent is legally due. The landlord must serve a copy on the Rent Control Board by certified mail, return receipt requested, at the same time as the tenant, and must file a notarized affidavit of service with the Board.

Certified mail that is refused can be remailed by ordinary mail and is effective as though accepted. Section 312-5 covers content. The notice must be in writing and must specifically set forth the reasons and calculations behind the proposed increase: the Consumer Price Index at the date of the last rent increase, the Consumer Price Index 90 days before the latest increase, the allowable percentage increase and the allowable rental increase. The definition in § 312-1 adds that each notice must set forth all the reasons justifying or requiring the increase and an itemized computation of its elements.

Notice is only the first step. Under § 312-3 F, a landlord cannot charge the full 5% cost-of-living increase until he has certified to the tenant and the Rent Control Board that he is in substantial compliance with municipal and state maintenance laws and has filed a copy of the notice with the Board simultaneously with service on the tenant. Section 312-19 caps combined increases for all causes at 15% in any one twelve-month period and tells landlords to make every effort to assert all authorized increases in a single annual notice.

A hardship or capital improvement application carries a separate notice, served by certified mail at least 20 days before any hearing under § 312-8. Under § 312-4, only an increase legally established under the chapter has any effect.