[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the Town of Dover 2-26-2002 by Ord. No. 7-2002. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Any tenant in the Town of Dover who receives a notice of eviction pursuant to Section 3 of P.L. 1974, c. 49 (N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.2) that results from zoning or code enforcement activity for an illegal occupancy, as set forth in Paragraph (3) of Subsection g. of Section 2 of P.L. 1974, c. 49 (N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1), shall be considered a displaced person and shall be entitled to relocation assistance in an amount equal to six times the monthly rental paid by the displaced person. The owner-landlord of the structure shall be liable for the payment of relocation assistance pursuant to this chapter.
The Town of Dover may, but is not required to, pay relocation assistance to any displaced person who has not received the required payment from the owner-landlord of the structure at the time of eviction pursuant to § 293-1 above out of a revolving relocation assistance fund established pursuant to Section 2 of P.L. 1987, c. 98 (N.J.S.A. 20:4-4.1a). All relocation assistance costs incurred by the Town of Dover pursuant to this section shall be repaid by the owner-landlord of the structure to the municipality in the same manner as relocation costs are billed and collected under Section 1 of P.L. 1983, c. 536 (N.J.S.A. 20:4-4.1) and § 1 of P.L. 1984, c. 30 (N.J.S.A. 20:4-4.2). These repayments shall be deposited into the municipality's revolving relocation assistance fund.
In addition to the payment by owner-landlord for relocation assistance paid to the displaced tenant, there may also be required an additional fine for zoning or housing code violation for an illegal occupancy, of up to six times the monthly rental paid by the displaced person to be paid to the municipality by the owner-landlord of the structure. In addition to this penalty, the Town of Dover, after affording the owner-landlord an opportunity for a hearing on the matter, may impose upon the owner-landlord, for a second or subsequent violation for an illegal occupancy, a fine equal to the annual tuition of any resident of the illegally occupied unit attending a public school, which fine shall be recovered in a civil action by a summary proceeding in the name of the Town of Dover pursuant to the Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999, P.L. 1999, c. 274 (N.J.S.A. 2A:58-10 et seq.). Such action may be brought either in the Municipal Court of the Town of Dover or the Superior Court, Law Division, Moths County, for the enforcement of the penalty provided in this section. Tuition costs shall be determined in a manner prescribed for nonresident pupils pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:38-19 and the payment of the fine shall be remitted to the Town of Dover public schools.
The owner-landlord of the structure, for the purposes of this chapter, shall exclude mortgagee in possession of a structure through foreclosure.
For the purposes of this chapter, a second or subsequent violation for an illegal occupancy shall be limited to those violations that are new and are the result of distinct and separate zoning or code enforcement activities and shall not include any continuing violations for which citations are issued by a zoning or code enforcement agent of the Town of Dover during the time period required for a summary dispossession proceeding to conclude that the owner has initiated eviction proceedings in a court of proper jurisdiction.