Judge Issues Restraining Order on New Montclair Rent Control Law
The Temporary Restraining Order issued by Judge Beacham provides that Montclair cannot take any action to implement the rent control ordinance that was passed by the Township Council on April 5.
MONTCLAIR, NJ—Essex County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey R. Beacham issued a Temporary Restraining Order on Friday enjoining the Township of Montclair from instituting its recently enacted rent control law.
The Temporary Restraining Order issued by Judge Beacham provides that Montclair cannot take any action to implement the rent control ordinance that was passed by the Township Council on April 5.
A hearing on the Temporary Restraining Order has been scheduled for June 3. The township has a deadline of May 8 to show cause and file its opposition to the TRO, while the Committee of Petitioners and the Montclair Property Owners Association, which filed suit against the township’s rent control law on April 15, has to file papers in opposition to the township’s court filing by May 26.
On April 7, the Montclair Town Council voted 5-0 with two abstentions to approve rent control in the township. The new law limits annual rent increases to 4.25%. For apartments in which at least one tenant is 65 years of age or older, the maximum annual permissible rent increase is 2.5%.
According to the new rent control law, approximately 40% of the residents of the Township of Montclair live in rental housing units ranging from single-family homes to multiple dwellings of more than 100 units.
“Not only does this order validate our claim under the law in this specific case, it is a warning to all municipalities who, under the cover of emergency, would seek to pass politically-motivated legislation at a time when the public, both practically and legally, is deprived of its right to express itself or mount challenge,” says Charles Gormally of Brach Eichler, attorney for the Committee of Petitioners.
The Committee of Petitioners challenged the implementation of the rent control ordinance based on its inability to pursue a referendum, due to restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.
The Montclair Property Owners Association, which was formed in response to what it terms was the sudden introduction of the ordinance, is made up of the owners of 1,175 apartments in Montclair that would be subject to rent control under the enjoined law.
“To a person, neither the committee nor any of our members had any idea the ordinance would be introduced because it was not advertised for first reading,” Ron Simoncini, executive director of the Montclair Property Owners Association, says. “The claims by tenant advocates that the ordinance was ‘studied, debated, negotiated, revised and ultimately produced by the Township Council unanimously last month is fair to property owners,’… and that property owners’ interests were ‘taken into account’ is a ridiculous contention.”