The “Safeguarding Livable Units through Municipal Landlord Oversight and Regulation by DCA” or “SLUMLORD Act” sponsored by state Senators Raj Mukherji (D-32) and Brian Stack (D-33) cleared the New Jersey Senate Community and Affairs Committee yesterday.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Far too many tenants in my district are living in neglected rental units where landlords are cutting off heat or ignoring basic health and safety standards in order to force out tenants and maximize profit. Serial code violators are additionally hiding behind layers of shell corporations to dodge responsibility,” Mukherji said in a statement.
“The SLUMLORD Act gives the State DCA meaningful enforcement tools to hold chronic violators accountable when local resources are stretched thin, and it gives tenants additional remedies when dealing with habitability violations. If you are profiting while your tenants suffer in unlivable conditions, we will hold you accountable.”
Bill S-4347, co-sponsored by state Senator Angela McKnight (D-31), requires the DCA commissioner to establish a Habitability Enforcement and Affirmative Litigation Program, which would provide information to tenants regarding habitability violations and engage in litigation on behalf of tenants who have been subjected to these violations.
$5 million would be appropriated to the program to effectuate these provisions, according to the bill.
“Tenants deserve to feel secure in their housing. Through this bill, landlords and their agents are required to work for their residents by consistently doing upkeep on their units and ensuring that they are generally habitable,” added Stack, also the Union City mayor.
“A lease or rental agreement works both ways. While tenants agree to pay to live in a unit, a landlord is also agreeing to ensure that the unit is actually livable and has functioning facilities. The SLUMLORD Act codifies this expectation, erasing any and all uncertainty regarding a landlord’s responsibilities.”
Additionally, the DCA commissioner would be required to establish and maintain a habitability database, which would contain information related to habitability violations across New Jersey and allow municipalities and state agencies to identify serial offenders and predatory landlords.
Landlords are permitted to petition the DCA for removal from the database if they can demonstrate that they do not meet the requirements under the bill for inclusion.
The SLUMLORD Act would further codify the notion that, implied in a written lease, oral lease, or rental agreement for a rental unit, the landlord guarantees that the premises are fit for human habitation throughout the life of a lease.
The implied warranty of habitability, therefore, works to ensure that tenants or occupants of a rental unit will not be subjected to any dangerous, hazardous, or detrimental conditions that would impact the unit’s health, safety, or livability.
It also requires the landlord to repair damage to any vital facilities, including plumbing, hot and cold water, and heat and electricity.
If there is a violation of habitability, residential tenants are entitled to take private legal action against their landlords in most circumstances. This can result in personal liability and even quasi-criminal penalties for certain landlords and their agents.
To further ensure that the provisions of the bill are followed, landlords are required to designate at least one principal agent who will receive habitability violation complaints from tenants, direct the property management company to abate violations, and, in turn, be personally liable for severe habitability violations.
