Safe and habitable housing is not a privilege, but a fundamental right. Yet, for too many tenants, this right is constantly under threat. While existing laws provide a framework for tenant protections, recent incidents highlight areas where these laws can be strengthened. Landlords neglect repairs, retaliate against tenants who speak up, and exploit legal loopholes to force people out of their homes. Legal professionals play a pivotal role in advocating for tenant protections, and against bad landlords who continue to get away with dangerous neglect.
Current Legal Protections for Tenants in New Jersey
New Jersey upholds several statutes and regulations to safeguard tenant rights:
Implied Warranty of Habitability: This legal doctrine mandates that landlords maintain rental properties in conditions fit for occupancy, ensuring safety and sanitation.
Anti-Eviction Act: Protects tenants from unjust evictions, allowing removal only for specific, legally defined reasons.
Law Against Discrimination (LAD): Prohibits housing discrimination based on various protected characteristics, including source of income, ensuring that tenants receiving rental assistance are not unfairly denied housing.
Despite these protections, every week, tenants reach out to legal aid organizations, advocacy groups, and lawmakers with horror stories: mold infestations causing severe respiratory issues, ignored for months; buildings with no heat in the dead of winter, leaving families to freeze; landlords illegally shutting off utilities to force tenants out without going through legal eviction proceedings; section 8 voucher holders being denied housing, despite laws prohibiting income discrimination. These are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a system that, despite good laws on paper, allows landlords to put profits over people without real consequences.
New Jersey’s Implied Warranty of Habitability requires landlords to maintain safe and livable conditions. But here is the problem, tenants often have to sue their landlords just to get the bare minimum repairs done. This puts the burden on the people who are already suffering, rather than holding landlords accountable from the outset. The Anti-Eviction Act protects tenants from being arbitrarily removed, but illegal evictions are rampant. Lockouts, utility shutoffs, and intimidation tactics are far too common. Many tenants don’t know their rights, and even when they do, enforcement mechanisms are weak. A landlord who illegally evicts a tenant might get a slap on the wrist if they face consequences at all. And then there is rampant discrimination against voucher holders. New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination explicitly prohibits landlords from refusing tenants just because they rely on rental assistance. Yet, violations persist. Why? Because many tenants don’t have the resources to fight back, and enforcement agencies are not doing enough.
The Role of Lawyers in Strengthening Tenant Protections
Legal professionals can drive significant improvements in tenant rights and housing safety. The legal community and policymakers cannot afford to be passive observers in this crisis. As an attorney and an assemblywoman, I am focused on pushing for changes. Here are some thoughts on what must happen:
- Advocacy for Legislative Reforms:
Enhanced Habitability Standards: Push for clearer definitions and stricter enforcement of what constitutes habitable living conditions.’
Stronger Penalties for Violations: Advocate for increased fines and sanctions against landlords who repeatedly violate housing codes.
- Litigation and Legal Representation:
Establishing a right to legal counsel for all low-income tenants facing eviction which will challenge unlawful evictions and represent tenants in cases of illegal lockouts or utility shutoffs, ensuring enforcement of existing protections. (I am proud to have delivered to my district money to a Right to Counsel program for those facing evictions.)
Address discriminatory practices by filing complaints and litigate against landlords who discriminate based on source of income or other protected characteristics.
Expanding tenant legal education programs to ensure more people know their rights before they are in crisis.
- Full Transparency on Landlord Violations
Landlords with repeated violations should be publicly listed, so prospective tenants know who they are dealing with.
A statewide landlord accountability database would allow tenants, advocates, and lawmakers to track patterns of neglect.
Time for Action, Not Excuses
While New Jersey has established a foundation for tenant rights, ongoing challenges necessitate proactive legal advocacy. Lawyers are instrumental in not only enforcing current laws but also in pioneering reforms that ensure all tenants have access to safe, decent, and fair housing. Through dedicated efforts in legislation, litigation, and community engagement, legal professionals can significantly enhance housing safety and tenant protections across the state. New Jersey must set the standard for what real tenant protections look like. This means closing loopholes, strengthening enforcement, and making it clear: if you are a landlord who neglects your property, discriminates against tenants, or tries to bully people out of their homes, you will face serious consequences. We need bold action, and we need it now.
From sexual abuse matters to personal injury and workers compensation, Jessica brings a wealth of experience to her practice at D’Arcy Johnson Day. Her fluency in both English and Spanish enables her to help so many members of the community, as she focuses on sex assault and personal injury cases, work injuries, medical malpractice, immigration, criminal law, and municipal court proceedings among other areas of practice.
