HOBOKEN – A Hudson County Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of a committee of rent control petitioners last week, allowing a petition for referendum to the recent changes to Hoboken’s rent control law to be accepted by the City Clerk’s office for review, according to court documents filed on June 14.
Rent control is a set of laws that apply to approximately 8,000 apartments in Hoboken built before 1987. They limit the amount that landlords can increase the rent each year, but can allow additional increases for capital improvements and other matters.
A group of tenant’s rights advocates attempted to place three recent changes to the city’s rent control ordinance on the May election ballot in the form of a referendum after changes were approved by the City Council unanimously on March 2.
However, the clerk’s office told the petitioners they did not have enough signatures originally, and when the committee tried to amend the petition by correcting the number of signatures within a 10-day period, as allowed by statute, the clerk’s office denied the petition again.
Sources said that part of the city’s legal position was that a lack of signatures is not a correctable deficiency.
The court ruled on June 14 that the clerk’s office acted arbitrarily and capriciously by refusing to accept the amended petition, and the clerk’s office was ordered to accept the amended petition for review and to process it in accordance with the statute. The court also denied the city’s motion to dismiss the case.
However, when the city clerk’s office was reached on Monday morning, they said they were unaware of the ruling.
A request for confirmation of the ruling from the city attorney’s office was not returned by press time on Monday.
The tenants are represented by Renee Steinhagen of the Newark-based public interest law center, New Jersey Appleseed.
“The city needs to move forward and give the people the right to be heard [by reviewing the petition],” Steinhagen said on Monday.
Appeals are expected, which could delay the results of the case.
If the petition is valid, and has enough signatures, the three changes could be put on hold until after the public votes in the form of a referendum in an upcoming election.
For previous stories about the case, see links below.
The changes approved by the council on March 2 limits the amount of money tenants can collect in back rent for overcharges to two years; allows a landlord to furnish alternative documents to apply for vacancy decontrol; and a third change requires landlords to inform tenants of their rights under Hoboken’s laws and show proof the information was supplied.
A vacancy decontrol allows a landlord to raise the rent by 25 percent once every three years if a tenant vacates the apartment.
Keep watching HudsonReporter.com for more on this story. — Ray Smith
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