[Adopted 9-18-2000 by Ord. No. 14-2000]
To preserve the peace and tranquility of the Borough of Tuckerton for
its permanent residents, and to maintain its viability as a vacation spot
not only for citizens of this state, but also for persons and families from
far and near whom the beauties and pleasures of the Borough of Tuckerton have
historically attracted, it is necessary and desirable that the Borough of
Tuckerton have adequate means to curb and discourage those occasional excesses
arising from irresponsible seasonal rentals. Accordingly, it is the purpose
of this article to enable the Borough of Tuckerton to take effective action
to assure that excesses, when they occur, shall not be repeated, and that
landlords offering seasonal rentals be held to sufficient standards of responsibility.
For the purpose of this article, the terms used herein are defined as
follows:
HEARING OFFICER
A person designated pursuant to §
214-5A to hear and determine proceedings under this article.
LANDLORD
The person or persons who own or purport to own any building in which
there is rented or offered for rent housing space for living or dwelling under
either a written or oral lease, including but not limited to any building
subject to the Hotel and Multiple Dwelling Law, N.J.S.A. 55:13A-12 et seq.,
and owner-occupied two-unit premises. In the case of a mobile home park, "landlord"
shall mean the owner of an individual dwelling unit within the mobile home
park.
SEASONAL RENTAL
Any rental of residential accommodations for a term of less than
one year and including any part of the period extending from May 15 to September
15.
If in any one year three complaints, on separate occasions, of disorderly,
indecent, tumultuous or riotous conduct upon or in proximity to any seasonal
rental premises, and attributable to the acts or incitements of any of the
tenants of those premises, have been substantiated by prosecution and conviction
in any court of competent jurisdiction, the Mayor and Borough Council, or
any officer or employee of the Borough of Tuckerton designated by the Mayor
and Borough Council for this purpose, may institute proceedings to require
the landlord of those premises to post a bond against the consequences of
future incidents of the same character in accordance with the provisions of
this article.
The Mayor and Borough Council, or person designated pursuant to §
214-3 of this article, shall cause to be served upon the landlord, in person or by registered mail to the address appearing on the tax records of the municipality, notice advising of the institution of such proceedings, together with particulars of the substantiated complaints upon which those proceedings are based, and of the time and place at which a hearing will be held in the matter, which shall be in the Municipal Building, Municipal Court, or other public place within the Borough of Tuckerton, and which shall be no sooner than 30 days from the date upon which the notice is served or mailed.
The Borough of Tuckerton may enforce the bond required by action in
the Superior Court and shall be entitled to an injunction prohibiting the
landlord from making or renewing any lease of the affected premises for residential
purposes until that bond or equivalent security, in satisfactory form and
amount, has been deposited with the Borough of Tuckerton.
A bond or other security deposited in compliance with §
214-6 of this article shall remain in full force and effect for a period of two years. Upon the lapse of the specified period, the landlord shall be entitled to the discharge thereof unless prior thereto further proceedings leading to a forfeiture or partial forfeiture of the bond or other security shall have been had under §
214-9 of this article, in which case, the security shall be renewed in an amount and for a period that shall be specified by the Hearing Officer.