Brick Moving To Adopt Ordinance To Hold Landlords Liable For Unruly Tenants

Landlords in Brick Township could face financial penalties from the town if their tenants persistently violate the law, officials said.

Under an ordinance approved by the Township Council on first reading Tuesday night, the township will require landlords to post a bond of up to $5,000 when tenants have two violations of the law in two years, officials said.

“This ordinance will provide the township with an effective way to deal with a serious quality of life issue that is affecting residents,” Mayor John Ducey said in a news release Tuesday afternoon. “By holding landlords accountable for renting to irresponsible tenants, it is our expectation that those landlords will be more vigilant in whom they rent to.”

It is patterned after the “Animal House” ordinance that was first adopted by Belmar in 1998 to deal with unruly tenants in the summer, Township Administrator Joanne Bergin said. That ordinance initially was only available to Shore towns, but Gov. Jon Corzine expanded the applicability of it to all municipalities in 2010. Ewing Township has an ordinance similar to the one the council voted on Tuesday night, Bergin said.

“We are on solid ground, from a legal standpoint,” Ducey said after the meeting.

The issue of unruly and criminal behavior by tenants in some areas of Brick has been a concern for several years, but complaints from residents of Maple Leaf Park at council meetings last fall pushed the council to look into ways to address the problems, not just in that condominium complex but throughout the township, council members have said.

“There are many areas of Brick Township that have a high percentage of rental units and many of these units are owned by people who don’t live in Brick Township or have any ties to this community,” Council President Paul Mummolo said in the news release. “They don’t have any sense of civic pride or responsibility for Brick Township. This council is not going to sit by idly and allow them to continue to negatively impact the lives of our residents with impunity. They will now be held accountable when they rent to irresponsible people.”

At the Feb. 17 council meeting Maple Leaf Park resident James Cancel, who made his first complaints about the complex in September, chastised the council for what he viewed as inaction by the township’s code enforcement office, citing a lawsuit filed against Point Pleasant over “municipal inaction” in addressing quality of life issues there.

Cancel has pushed in particular for more police activity and more action by code enforcement to crack down on what he has repeatedly said are criminal issues and absentee landloords.

“There’s got to be some accountability,” he said.

Ducey, at the Feb. 17 meeting, took exception to Cancel’s comments.

“You can’t arrest your way out of it,” Ducey said, referring to Cancel’s urging that the police department do more. Ducey noted that attempts to restart a neighborhood watch program resulted in one person showing up for the meeting.

“We are working on an ordinance,” Ducey said that night. “To say we have done nothing is absolutely false. I find it insulting.”

The ordinance being considered would create a process that would allow the township to require a landlord to post a bond of no less than $500 and no more than $5,000 in the event that tenants are convicted of two convictions of breaking criminal or municipal laws during a 24-month period.

If two convictions take place, a hearing would be held with a hearing officer who is a licensed attorney in New Jersey. The hearing officer would determine whether or not the landlord would be required to post a bond. The bond would be in effect to make reparations for future damages, payment of fines and/or penalties and to compensate the municipality for the costs of repressing and prosecuting incidents of disorderly behavior.

Second reading and adoption of the ordinance is scheduled for the March 17 council meeting, and if it is passed, it will become law 20 days after its publication.

Members of the public can comment on the ordinance at the March 17 meeting before it is voted on.