Landlords File Paperwork To Force Special Election On Rent Limits In Hoboken

HOBOKEN, NJ — Confused about Hoboken's rent control laws and who they apply to? You may be hearing a lot more about the matter soon, as a landlord group has submitted petitions to force a special election to change the limits on rent increases.

Since 1973, Hoboken has had a Rent Control Ordinance meant to prevent surprise hikes, limiting annual increases to the cost of living adjustment — usually around 5 percent. But there are several exceptions; for instance, each time a tenant leaves voluntarily after at least three years, landlords can apply for a 25 percent decontrol. The new rent would be higher, but increases would fall back under control.

(Want to know if your building is covered and if your lease or increase is legal? The city has a tenant advocate on retainer to help for free. Most buildings 30 years old or older are rent controlled, but so are some newer buildings.)

For decades, both tenants and landlords have debated how the local law can keep up with the times.

For the past two years, the city's nine-member City Council has tinkered with the law, ostensibly to make it fairer. But a group of property owners led by Ron Simoncini, who has opposed rent control ordinances in other towns, has criticized the recent changes.

Simoncini's group, the Mile Square Taxpayers' Association, has been involved in public elections in Hoboken in decades past, to press for more decontrols. Tenant groups have successfully fought off those changes in the past.

But no one knows how Hoboken's current residents would vote in a special election this time around.

Last year, Simoncini and longtime Hoboken tenant activist Cheryl Fallick, who often oppose each other on changes, managed to hammer out a compromise that could avoid a special election. The nine members of the City Council voted in favor of the compromise, but Mayor Ravi Bhalla vetoed it.

Simoncini and his group attended a council meeting in March to announce that they do, indeed, intend to put a measure on the public ballot. If passed, it would allow any landlord of a rent controlled unit to pay $2,500 per unit toward future affordable housing, in order to have an unlimited, one-time increase when a tenant leaves voluntarily.

This is what has tenant advocates worried.

The MSTA says the ordinance is fair, because it could provide for future affordable housing. However, others say that the city's already shrinking housing stock accessible to the middle class will disappear, unit by unit. A landlord who can raise the rent $500 to $1,000 per month could make back $2,500 rather quickly.

Tenant advocates also worry that harassment of renters could increase, to displace them. Renters have told Patch recently about landlords trying to push them out, in violation of the state's eviction laws.

In Hoboken, the median rent has risen to above $4,000. And recently, the Zoning Board approved the demolition of three rent controlled apartment buildings where tenants currently live, meaning, they'll need to find another rent controlled building, or possibly leave town.

State Limits Rent Increases, Too

The state of New Jersey also has a law that limits rent increases, although it's more vague than city law. It applies to all units, new and old.

New Jersey law states that rent increases must can't be "unconscionable or unreasonable," an amount that some tenant advocates say has been 25 percent or higher. A tenant who believes his increase would "shock the conscience" can withhold the extra rent and wait for a court date, by law. If taken to court for eviction, a judge would decide if the increase is too high.

But does it have to come to that?

Last year, Hoboken filed a "test case" against Avalon Bay, on behalf of three Hoboken tenants in that building, in order to see if increases of 25 percent or more would be allowed to stand. The idea was to set a clearer precedent in the area for what type of rent would qualify as "unconscionable."

However, the city dropped the lawsuit when the building was judged to be under rent control.

Patch has reached out to the administration of Ravi Bhalla several times to see if they would file another such test case to protect other renters, which could relieve them of having to face eviction hearings to find out if their rent is legal.

The city has not responded to numerous questions on the matter. READ MORE: Are 25 Percent Rent Increases Legal? Hoboken Files 'Test Case'

What's Happening Right Now?

Over the last two months, representatives for the landlord group asked Hoboken voters over to sign their petitions "to put affordable housing on the ballot in Hoboken." They didn't mention rent control when asking people on the street to sign the petition, something that council members and local activists have criticized.

On Tuesday, MSTA turned in more than 2,000 signatures to City Hall, which could force a special election toward the end of the year if the signatures turn out to be valid.

Mayor Ravi Bhalla has called the prospect of a referendum "offensive and unacceptable."

With the petitions handed in, a city spokesperson said on Wednesday, "Mayor Bhalla will be doing anything and everything necessary to ensure
residents are fully informed about the harmful impacts of the referendum, and will forcefully advocate to protect rent control protections should it come to a vote."

Bhalla V. Menendez Jr.: Election Issue?

Patch also asked all of last year's Hoboken City Council candidates to weigh in on whether they'd support or oppose a rent control referendum. You can do a search on each candidate's name to find how they answered the question.

Bhalla is also running for Congress this year. Rent issues have come up on the federal level — in fact, the U.S. Justice Department is investigating the practices of at least three corporate landlords who've owned or managed buildings in Hoboken.

"As a congressman, as he has done as mayor, Ravi Bhalla will strongly oppose any referendum aimed at rolling back rent control in Hoboken," said campaign spokesperson Rob Horowitz on Wednesday.

Rep. Rob Menendez Jr., who is running to keep his seat, was also asked if he'd speak on the referendum, as it would affect a major part of his district. He did not respond at press time, but his comments will be added should he respond.

Several towns near Hoboken, including Newark, have found creative ways to protect renters from displacement and keep them out of court — but Hoboken has not yet proposed any of these measures. READ MORE: 5 Tenant Protection Measures That Nearby Cities Passed, Yet Hoboken Hasn't

Both Fallick and representatives of the MSTA say they believe a compromise may still be possible.

"My feeling on it is that MSTA probably doesn't want to go to the ballot and would much prefer a compromise," Fallick said Wednesday. "The question is what an acceptable compromise is."

She added, "Truth is, despite all of the spin, there has never been a change to the rent control ordinance that favored tenants. Every single thing that they've done (save the 5 percent cap which was coupled with a whole bunch of detrimental inclusions) since the death of [Mayor Tom] Vezzetti has weakened the law."

A representative for the MSTA's Committee of Petitioners said they "remain willing to sit down with the council for a productive discussion regarding a solution to the dysfunctional Rent Control Ordinance.”

MSTA also said that the characterization of the petition gathering activities isn't true. They said, "It is preposterous for anyone to characterize how the 12 people who collected signatures spoke to the people they approached, and is in denial of the most critical issue: in plain language the referendum question is at the top of every petition as the Statute requires."

(Patch personally heard petitioners ask people to sign the petitions "to put affordable housing on the ballot" on at least two occasions, and received an email from a member of the public who complained about being misled.)

The last time a rent control amendment came to a public vote, the matter was very narrowly defeated. The MSTA, which was pushing for vacancy decontrol at the time, challenged the election results in court, then dropped the claim in 2014.

You can read the MSTA's proposed amendment and referendum question here.

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