New Jersey § 2a:18-61

§ 2a:18-61.

The Legislature finds that research studies have demonstrated that the forced eviction

and relocation of elderly persons from their established homes and communities harm

the mental and physical health of these senior citizens, and that these disruptions

in the lives of older persons affect adversely the social, economic and cultural characteristics

of communities of the State, and increase the costs borne by all State citizens in

providing for their public health, safety and welfare. These conditions are particularly serious in light of the rising costs of home ownership,

and are of increasing concern where rental housing is converted into condominiums

or cooperatives which senior citizens on fixed limited incomes cannot afford, an occurrence

which is becoming more and more frequent in this State under prevailing economic circumstances. The Legislature, therefore, declares that it is in the public interest of the State

to avoid the forced eviction and relocation of senior citizen tenants wherever possible,

specifically in those instances where rental housing market conditions and particular

financial circumstances combine to diminish the ability of senior citizens to obtain

satisfactory comparable housing within their established communities, and where the

eviction action is the result not of any failure of the senior citizen tenant to abide

by the terms of a lease or rental agreement, but of the owner's decision advantageously

to dispose of residential property through the device of conversion to a condominium

or cooperative. The Legislature further finds that it is in the public interest of the State to avoid

the forced eviction and the displacement of the handicapped wherever possible because

of their limited mobility and the limited number of housing units which are suitable

for their needs. The Legislature further declares that in the service of this public interest it is

appropriate that qualified senior citizen tenants and disabled tenants be accorded

a period of protected tenancy, during which they shall be entitled to the fair enjoyment

of the dwelling unit within the converted residential structure, to continue for such

time, up to 40 years, as the conditions and circumstances which make necessary such

protected tenancy shall continue. The Legislature further finds that the promotion of this public interest is possible

only if senior citizen tenants and disabled tenants are protected during this period

from alterations in the terms of the tenancy or rent increases which are the result

solely of an owner's decision to convert.