2A:18-61.1d. Maximum authorized rent
In a municipality which has an ordinance regulating rents in effect, if a dwelling unit in the premises becomes vacated after notice has been given that the owner seeks to permanently board up or demolish the premises or seeks to retire permanently the premises from residential use pursuant to subsection g.(1) or h. of section 2 of P.L. 1974, c. 49 (C. 2A:18-61.1) and if any time thereafter an owner permits the personal occupancy of the premises, the maximum rent authorized for a unit in the premises shall not exceed the rent that would have been authorized for that unit if there had been no vacancy or change of tenancy for the unit. Increased costs which occur during the period of vacancy, which are solely the result of the premises being vacated, closed and reoccupied and which do not add services or amenities not previously provided, or which add new services or amenities whose costs significantly reduce the affordability of the premises, shall not be used as a basis for any rent increase pursuant to any municipal rent regulation provision, fair return or hardship hearing before a municipal rent board or any appeal from such determination. Increased costs of new services and amenities create a rebuttable presumption that they significantly reduce the affordability of the premises, if they result in a doubling of the rent increases otherwise permitted by law during the period of vacancy. Within five days of the date on which any owner provides notice of termination to a tenant pursuant to subsection g.(1) or h. of section 2 of P.L. 1974, c. 49 (C. 2A:18-61.1), the owner shall provide a copy of the notice to the municipal agency responsible for administering the regulation of rents in the municipality. The owner's notice to the municipal agency shall also include a listing of the current tenants and rents for each dwelling unit in the premises, unless the owner has previously submitted to the municipal agency a listing which is still current.
