Thursday, April 14, 2011

Know Your Tenant Rights

With all the talk of new rental units proposed or under construction in Plainfield, perhaps it is time to remind tenants and landlords that there is a booklet outlining the rights and responsibilities of both parties. As described below, the booklet is supposed to be furnished to tenants by landlords. One would assume that includes the "lease-to-purchase" tenants now moving into The Monarch. New apartments are also under construction on Park Avenue and of course the West Second Street Commons development will have many new apartments.

Here is something tenants and landlords need to know:

The Truth-in-Renting Act (N.J.S.A. 46:8-43 et seq.) requires the Department of Community Affairs to prepare and publish a statement of the rights and responsibilities of residential tenants and landlords. The Act also requires residential landlords of dwellings with more than two units (or more than three units if the landlord occupies one of the units) to distribute the Truth-in-Renting Statement, now in Booklet format, to each of their tenants at or prior to the tenant’s occupancy. Violators of the Act shall be liable for a penalty of up to $100.00 for each violation.

A law was passed that gave landlords a break on the cost of distributing these booklets, but a casual inquiry at the midst of the Connolly situation revealed either tenants never got a booklet or didn't look at it. (The Connolly company acquired nearly all the large multi-families in Plainfield and then had problems that resulted in several big apartment buildings going into rent receivership. Presumably the receiver is giving out Truth in Renting booklets to new occupants.)

To see the booklet online, click here. To order a copy in English or Spanish for $2, hit the "end" button on your keyboard to view an order form at the end of the booklet. Copy and paste the form into Word or whatever other document-creation program you have, print out, fill in and send with a check to the address indicated.

Tenants in Plainfield have no organized representation. A tenants' group organized in the 1980s was the target of a property managers' association, which by various means broke it up and bragged about the accomplishment in the association's newsletter. Since then, tenants who don't know the law are at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords. I'm sure some landlords are also plagued by bad tenants, but because I have been a tenant in Plainfield for over 25 years, I am on the side of the renters.

--Bernice

7 comments:

  1. That little booklet has saved me a lot of money and aggravation over the years! Just recently my brother-in-law was able to use his security as rent because the new owners of Watchung Gardens neglected to tell him all the pertinent info of where his security money had been banked within the alotted 30 days of taking over the complex!!

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  2. As a renter I have been very happy not having to pay a mortgage etc., but feel for my landlord at times. A good tennant should be treated like gold,[hoefully I am one] but a bad one is a long nighmare [not your worst though, that is trying to get a straight answer from City Hall]

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  3. Thanks for the information. I have lived in apartment buildings with over 40 apartments over the past seven years and have never seen or even heard of this booklet. Plainfield is not pro-active in protecting tenants from predatory landlords. If it was, then Connolly wouldn't have been able to abuse his tenants for so long, even after people like me wrote letters to the mayor and didn't get any replys until Jerry Green forced her to do something.

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  4. Miss Bernice,
    I overheard some policemen talking about some group at the police department called Queen City Mudders, Dirty Cops they competed in some type of event last weekend in PA Can you find out more please sounds interesting

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  5. @1:53 PM: Off topic again! Why don't you Google it yourself? Are you talking about the Allentown event?

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  6. http://plainfield.injersey.com/2011/04/15/plainfield-cops-get-dirty-in-tough-mudder-challenge/

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  7. I found it you are so amazing thank you

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