Stafford Township, NJ Short-Term Rentals: Repeat Violator Strikes (2026)

Chapter 173 of the Stafford Township Code is the Township's repeat-violator system for seasonal rentals, including rentals in Manahawkin, Beach Haven West and the rest of the township. Section 173-3 counts convictions, not accusations: the three complaints must be of disorderly, indecent, tumultuous or riotous conduct on or near the rental, attributable to the tenants, and substantiated by prosecution and conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction. Once the third is on the record within the term of a license, the Mayor and Township Council, or an officer or employee they designate, can institute proceedings against the landlord. The section was amended 10-26-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-23.

The landlord gets notice under § 173-4, served in person or by registered mail to the address on the Township tax records, with the particulars of each substantiated complaint. The hearing is held in the Municipal Building, Municipal Court or another public place in Stafford Township and can be no sooner than 30 days after service or mailing. Under § 173-5 the hearing officer must be a New Jersey attorney who owns or leases no Stafford property and holds no interest in profits from such property. The landlord can present evidence in contradiction or mitigation.

The bond itself is set in § 173-6 by the hearing officer, who weighs the nature and extent of the offenses and sizes the bond to cover property damage and disruption of neighbors' quiet possession, fines and penalties likely to follow, and the Township's cost of repressing and prosecuting disorderly incidents. No bond can be below $500 or above $5,000. Under § 173-8 it stays in force for two years. Separately, § 164-9.1 lets the Code Official deny a seasonal rental license application when, in the preceding year, at least three separate occasions of the same conduct were substantiated by conviction. That denial rule was added 10-26-2021 by the same ordinance.