Landlord has no certificate of occupancy and signed lease saying he did

[jaredkiri]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

Hi,

We are in a really bad situation. We moved into this house 4 1/2 years ago. We just found out it doesn't have a C/O and has never even been registered as a dwelling in the town when it was bought. We are having problems with the house and we feel that even though the landlord fixes things, we were lied to and since we had a bug issue that caused us to throw out all our furniture, we should sue him for all our back rent so we can move to a decent house of our own. We have nowhere for our kids to sit and my wife is disabled.

Can anyone help us. We are in Passaic County, NJ.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

It would appear from the attached, not having a Certificate of Occupancy in New Jersey limits the landlords ability to begin the eviction process on a tenant:

"Failure to obtain a certificate of occupancy
A municipality may have an ordinance that requires a landlord to obtain a certificate of occupancy (also known as a “C.O.&#8221 before the landlord can rent a unit. The certificate of occupancy, issued by the municipality, ensures that apartments meet code standards before they are rented. Failure by a landlord to obtain a certificate of occupancy can be used to show that the conditions in the apartment are poor and that this violates the landlord’s duty to provide habitable housing. The conditions of the apartment determine how much rent is due. Cite: McQueen v. Brown and Cook, 342 N.J. Super. 120, aff’d 175 N.J. 2000 (2002). The court in this case said that if a landlord does not have a C.O., he or she must apply for one before trying to evict a tenant."

You've lived there for 4 1/2 years. Have there been problems with bugs for 4 1/2 years? You mention that your landlord has "fixed" things. Why this need to feel you must sue him/her for 4 1/2 years of back rent?

Gail

 

[John_DFW]

Most likely the lack of a certificate of occupancy allows you to break the lease without penalty.

You threw out the furniture, not the landlord, so how is the landlord liable?

Did you provide written notice of the insect issue?

What is the timeline for the written notice and the furniture being damaged to the point it was unrecoverable?

 

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

Hi,

We are in a really bad situation. We moved into this house 4 1/2 years ago. We just found out it doesn't have a C/O and has never even been registered as a dwelling in the town when it was bought. We are having problems with the house and we feel that even though the landlord fixes things, we were lied to and since we had a bug issue that caused us to throw out all our furniture, we should sue him for all our back rent so we can move to a decent house of our own. We have nowhere for our kids to sit and my wife is disabled.

Can anyone help us. We are in Passaic County, NJ.

Sorry, but the lack of a CO in this case will NOT entitle you to all of your back rent in a lawsuit. It DOES, however, allow you to break your lease without penalty, if it can be proven that the property MIGHT be considered uninhabitable.

Exactly what kind of bug problem are we talking about, and how far into the tenancy did that occur?