Wayne, NJ Rental Property Rules: Rental Registration (2026)

Section 99-4 of the Wayne Township Code, in Article II (Multiple-Family Dwellings) of Chapter 99, makes registration a condition of owning, operating or managing a building with three or more tenant units in Wayne Township, Passaic County. The owner and management go on a form supplied by the Township Clerk. The form must carry the owner's name and address, the lessor's name and address when the lessor is someone other than the owner, and the name and address of an agent in charge who resides in the Township. Subsection B puts the duty on the owner and on any lessor, and a person who becomes owner or lessor has 30 days from that date to register.

Registration matters again when enforcement starts. Under § 99-8 the Construction Official or Health Officer serves a notice of violation on the owner, the lessor or the resident agent. If the premises were never registered, or the agent cannot be found at the registered address, posting the notice in a conspicuous place on the premises counts as sufficient notice. Section 99-5 names the Construction Official and Health Officer, or their designees, as the enforcers of the article.

Section 99-7 adds a related duty. A multiple-dwelling building with three or more dwelling units needs a superintendent, janitor, caretaker or housekeeper, and where that person does not live on site the owner must register the person's name, address and telephone number with the Health Officer. In a building of 25 or more units the caretaker must live on the premises and work full time, and a building of 50 or more units needs an additional one.

Section 99-4 stops at three units. One- and two-family rentals fall under the Chapter 100 certificate of continued occupancy, and Article III, which defines a landlord as the owner of a building with no more than four dwelling units, covers a separate bond requirement for disorderly rentals.