Assemblywoman Katie Brennan’s (D-32) “No Class Action Waivers in Leases Act” to protect renters’ rights to sue bad landlords cleared the Assembly Housing Committee yesterday.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“If your landlord breaks the law, you and your neighbors should be able to sue them. It’s that simple. There’s a big problem now where landlords won’t follow local rent control laws, and then they sneak these waivers into everyone’s lease to make sure they get away with it,” she said in a statement.
“This bill bans those types of waivers and gives renters their power back. I’m grateful to my colleagues on the Housing Committee for moving this legislation forward, and I’m going to keep fighting until it’s the law.”
Bill A-3997 bans landlords from sneaking fine-print class action waivers into lease agreements. These clauses are used to block tenants from joining together to sue when their landlord breaks the law.
The bill applies to every residential lease in New Jersey and imposes a $1,000 per unit fine on any landlord who tries to enforce one of these waivers.
The measure cleared the Assembly panel 5-2, with Assemblywoman Victoria Flynn (R-13) and Assemblyman Sterley Stanley (D-18) voting no.
The legislation is part of a broader package introduced by Brennan to take on bad landlords.
The proposals are inspired by tenants at Portside Towers in Jersey City who organized and filed a $400 million federal lawsuit against their landlord, Equity Residential, after they discovered they had been overcharged for more than 20 years.
The package also includes the Rent Control Transparency Act (A-3998), which would require landlords to disclose to tenants whether their apartment is subject to local rent control, and legislation to create a Rental Control Ombudsman (A-3994) to enforce local rent control laws.
Earlier this week, Brennan released a video with 31-game Jeopardy! champion and housing finance professional Jamie Ding highlighting the bills.
