Landlord Atlas

Passaic, New Jersey: Rent Stabilization

Verified August 17, 2026 All New Jersey topics →

Passaic caps most rent increases at 3% a year, and the cap still applies when a new tenant moves in.

Cited to Code of the City of Passaic § 231-23 (Rent Stabilization of 2025: 3% cap, tax pass-through, vacancy, post-1996 construction, six-year term) and 13 more sources · Verified August 17, 2026

The limit took effect on September 22, 2025 under Ordinance No. 2494-25 and replaced a 6% cap set earlier the same year. A landlord may add a separate, itemized share of any municipal property tax increase based on the unit's share of the building's floor area, and may ask the Rent Leveling Board to go higher for a capital improvement or for hardship. Tenants who have lived in the same unit since December 9, 1999 or earlier fall under an older, tighter limit of the consumer price index or $25 a month, whichever is smaller. Hotels, one-family houses, owner-occupied two-family houses, single condominium and cooperative units, buildings put up after 1996 for up to 30 years, and properties under a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement are exempt. No increase is allowed unless the landlord has filed tenant registrations for the year and certifies that the unit meets the city's property maintenance code, and the tenant must get 30 days' itemized written notice.

What is in force

In force today. Passaic has regulated rents since the 1980s, and the current rules were rewritten during 2025: the chapter was renamed from Rent Control to Rent Stabilization on January 7, 2025, and the cap was cut twice that year, most recently by Ordinance No. 2494-25, adopted September 2, 2025 and effective September 22, 2025. The law is Chapter 231 of the Code of the City of Passaic, and the published code carries legislation through January 20, 2026.

The rent increase limit

Rent may be raised only once in any 12-month period, on the anniversary date of the tenancy. For most tenancies the increase is capped at 3%. On top of that, a landlord who gets a municipal property tax increase may pass along the share matching the portion of the building's floor area the unit occupies, itemized separately in the increase notice; that tax amount is not counted when working out the next year's permitted increase. A tighter, older rule still applies to tenants who have lived in the unit since December 9, 1999 or earlier: their increase is the smaller of the change in the consumer price index for New York and northeastern New Jersey or $25 a month. Where such a long-term household has two people or fewer, at least one aged 65 or older, and the older occupant's income is $50,000 a year or less, $25 a month is the ceiling on everything combined, including any tax share. Landlords may ask the Rent Leveling Board to go above the cap for a capital improvement or for hardship if the cap prevents a fair return. The 3% rule is written to last six years and, by the city's account, applies through 2031.

What housing is covered

Apartments, flats, and condominium or cooperative units used as homes are covered. Not covered: hotels and motels, one-family houses, owner-occupied two-family houses, a single condominium or cooperative unit where the owner holds no other unit in the building or complex apart from one the owner lives in, rooms rented by nonprofit organizations, rooming units in licensed rooming and boarding houses, and new residential construction completed after May 1, 1978. Units renting below $75 per room where the landlord pays for heat, or $60 per room where the tenant does, are also outside the chapter. Buildings put up after 1996 are exempt from the 3% rule for the length of the first mortgage or 30 years after construction is finished, whichever is shorter, and the landlord must tell affected tenants in writing. Property covered by a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the city is exempt until that agreement ends. New Jersey law separately exempts newly built multiple dwellings from local rent limits for the first mortgage's amortization period or 30 years, whichever is less.

What happens on vacancy

A vacancy does not reset the rent. The 2025 rule says the limits stay in effect when a unit becomes vacant, and the city tells landlords the base rent and its increase history follow the unit to the next tenant. This reversed the earlier position: an older section of the same chapter, still printed in the code, said the chapter did not apply to a unit that became vacant after December 9, 1999, and guides written before 2025 describe Passaic that way. The Rent Leveling Board now treats a unit that became vacant after 1999 as covered by the 3% rule.

Eviction and termination rules

State law governs evictions. The chapter bars provocation or retaliation against tenants who want to stay, and lists reductions in heat, hot water, or security, harassing calls or letters, and baseless eviction threats as harassment. It also blocks any increase where the landlord has not registered tenants or cannot certify code compliance. One provision runs the other way: a tenant's deliberate refusal to let the landlord in for necessary repairs, on 48 hours' written notice on a weekday between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., can count toward a state-law ground for eviction.

Registration and filings

Landlords must file tenant registrations for every unit with the city's Division of Housing and give copies to the Rent Leveling Board, and must do so every year. The registration form names the tenants, the square footage rented and of each room, the number of rooms and occupants, the landlord's or agent's name, address and telephone number, and the monthly rent for each unit; landlord and tenant both sign it, and it is due within 15 days of occupancy. No rent increase is allowed unless registration is current. The landlord's or agent's name, address, and telephone number must be posted in the ground-floor hall. Applying to the Rent Leveling Board for a surcharge or a service reduction costs $50 per apartment unit, capped at $1,000 per building; tenants pay nothing to apply.

Other requirements

An increase requires 30 days' written notice that itemizes the old rent, the new rent, any surcharges, the date the new rent starts, and the section of the chapter allowing it, and the notice must carry the landlord's certification that registration is current and that the unit substantially complies with the city's property maintenance code. Landlords must give every tenant a copy of the chapter, keep a rent log for each apartment, and hand each tenant an annual rent allocation statement on the tenancy anniversary. Tenants get the benefit of tax relief: 100% of a successful tax appeal refund, less the owner's documented appeal costs, within 45 days, and 100% of any tax reduction. Cutting services entitles tenants to a proportionate rent reduction that lowers the base rent. Capital improvement and hardship applications go to a public hearing with 10 days' certified-mail notice to each tenant. Board decisions can be appealed to the City Council within 20 days, which pauses the decision. Violations carry a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail, or both, counted separately for each tenancy affected, and a landlord who is late returning a tax reduction pays $100 a day on top.

Notes and caveats

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Passaic, New Jersey: Rent Stabilization (verified August 17, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/new-jersey/passaic/" — 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.