Landlord Atlas

Atlantic City, New Jersey: Rent Control

Verified August 17, 2026 All New Jersey topics →

Atlantic City limits yearly rent increases in most apartments to the change in the consumer price index for the 12 months before the lease term ends, with no fixed percentage ceiling in the ordinance and no hearing required as long as the landlord gives the tenant the calculations 30 days ahead and files them with the city.

Cited to Atlantic City Code § 41-6 (annual price index increase; quarterly publication; 30-day notice; no banking) and 12 more sources · Verified August 17, 2026

The limit falls away at turnover: when a tenant moves out voluntarily or is evicted by court order, the landlord sets the new rent freely and that becomes the new starting point. Owner-occupied duplexes and triplexes, public and federally subsidized housing, seasonal and transient stays, and buildings of three or more units built after June 25, 1987 sit outside the chapter. Landlords must file with the Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs within 30 days of occupancy or purchase, and a unit must have current registration before an increase can be sought.

What is in force

In force today. Atlantic City has controlled rents since 1985, and the chapter now in effect was adopted October 21, 1998 by Ordinance 63-1998, which replaced the 1985 chapter. The most recent change was Ordinance 18-2020, adopted May 20, 2020, which reset the board's membership. The law is the Code of the City of Atlantic City, Chapter 41, Landlord-Tenant Affairs Board, published as including legislation through May 13, 2026, and the city's list of newly adopted ordinances shows none affecting the chapter.

The rent increase limit

Once a year a landlord may raise the rent by the change in the consumer price index for the 12 months before the lease term ends. There is no fixed percentage ceiling in the ordinance. No hearing is needed if the landlord serves the calculations on the tenant by certified mail or in person at least 30 days before the increase takes effect and files the same calculations, plus proof the tenant was notified, with the city's Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs. The Office puts out the index figure every three months and the landlord must use the latest one it has published. Skipped years cannot be made up later: no increase is allowed for a period the landlord never applied for. If the landlord does not give the tenant the required information, the increase is void for that year and the tenant gets back anything paid. A capital improvement surcharge and a hardship increase can be applied for on top of the index increase.

What housing is covered

Apartments offered for rent in Atlantic City are covered, an apartment meaning a unit with a kitchen, a bathroom and living space, efficiencies included. Exempt: federally subsidized housing including all Section 8 housing, apartments in buildings carrying Department of Housing and Urban Development mortgages, apartments renovated under the Rental Rehabilitation Program, all public housing, apartments in buildings of three or more units built after June 25, 1987, owner-occupied duplexes and triplexes, and seasonal or transient stays in a hotel, motel or guesthouse. An older exemption for apartments renting at $1,300 a month or more was repealed on December 14, 2005.

What happens on vacancy

Atlantic City has full vacancy decontrol. Each time a tenant leaves voluntarily or a unit becomes vacant through a court-ordered eviction, the landlord sets the new rent, and that amount becomes the base rent all later increases build on. The landlord must tell the Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs about each change in tenancy, file the new rent, and say why the previous tenant left. If the Office finds the landlord harassed the previous tenant into leaving, it can put the unit back under rent control and order the rent cut to the maximum the controlled rent would have allowed.

Eviction and termination rules

State law governs evictions. The chapter bars a landlord from serving a notice to quit or bringing a possession case as a reprisal against a tenant for trying to secure or enforce rights under the lease or under the chapter, and it says nothing in it limits the remedies tenants already have under state law. A unit must have current registration before a rent increase can be sought, and any lease term that waives the chapter is void.

Registration and filings

Every landlord, owner or rental agent must file with the Office of Landlord-Tenant Affairs within 30 days of occupancy or purchase of a unit and ask for an inspection for city code violations; the legal base rent is set at that point. Renting without filing is a violation, and each unregistered unit counts as its own offense. The chapter's fees are $30 a year, $15 for a reinspection and a $30 late surcharge once a payment is 30 days overdue, with no fee for a senior citizen owner who lives in the property and rents out the remaining unit. Separately, owners of buildings with two or more rental units file each year on June 1 with the Department of Licensing and Inspections and pay $100, and that filing also counts as filing under the rent control chapter. An ordinance adopted June 18, 2025 adds an online landlord database with renewals due each year by January 31 and a fee set by City Council resolution.

Other requirements

A capital improvement surcharge is available: the cost is divided by the improvement's expected life, split across the units for common-area work, and 5% is added as a return, with the result folded into the base rent and collected in 12 equal monthly amounts. The landlord must tell tenants and apply before starting the work, and nothing takes effect until the work is finished and the permits and receipts are handed in. A hardship increase is available when net operating income falls below 40% of gross maximized annual income or below the average of the prior three years; if the Office has not ruled in time through no fault of the landlord, the landlord may collect up to 10% above the current rent in the meantime, refundable as a rent credit. Tenants can ask the Office to cut the rent by the value of services or equipment no longer provided. Fees to apply for an increase are $20 for the first unit, $10 for each unit up to the 50th and $7.50 for each unit after that, and the Administrator may double them if the landlord has not updated its filed information in four years or more. The Office decides first and the eleven-member Landlord-Tenant Affairs Board hears appeals, with fixed deadlines at each step. Violations carry a fine of up to $2,000 or 90 days in jail or both, counted separately for each unit affected. There is no property-tax surcharge and no reduced cap for senior or disabled tenants.

Notes and caveats

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Atlantic City, New Jersey: Rent Control (verified August 17, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/new-jersey/atlantic-city/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified).

Citations

This page records local law. Statewide rules — deposits, notice periods, late fees, entry, evictions — live on the New Jersey hub, and the state-level position on local rent regulation appears there with its own citations and verification date.