The Township Council finds, determines and declares that:
A. The Township, its residents and its citizens have experienced disturbances,
damage and public expense resulting from carelessly granted and inadequately
supervised rentals to irresponsible tenants by inept or indifferent
landlords.
B. This section is enacted to preserve the peace and tranquility of
the community for its permanent residents and to maintain the integrity
of the municipality for all persons and families availing themselves
of the facilities therein.
C. The enactment of this section is necessary and desirable to provide
a means to curb and discourage those occasional excesses arising from
irresponsible rentals.
D. The Legislature of the State of New Jersey enacted N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.12n
et seq. to enable certain communities to take effective action to
assure that excesses, when they occur, shall not be repeated, and
that landlords offering rentals be held to sufficient standards of
responsibility.
For the purpose of this article, the following meanings shall
apply:
HEARING OFFICER
A licensed attorney of the State of New Jersey appointed
by the Mayor, subject to the advice and consent of the Township Council.
The hearing officer shall not own or lease any real property within
the Township of Little Falls, nor hold any interest in the assets
of or profits arising from the ownership of such property.
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-1 et seq., and owner-occupied two-unit premises.
SUBSTANTIATED COMPLAINT
A complaint of an act of disorderly, indecent, tumultuous
or riotous conduct, including by way of example, but not limited to,
simple assault, terroristic threats, harassment, urinating in public,
lewdness, criminal mischief, or excessive noise, upon or in proximity
to any rental premises, and attributable to the acts or incitements
of any of the tenants of those premises that have been substantiated
by prosecution and conviction as a violation of any statute or local
ordinance in any court of competent jurisdiction.
The hearing officer shall be a person or persons appointed by
the Mayor, subject to the advice and consent of the Township Council.
A hearing officer shall not own or lease any real property within
the Township of Little Falls, nor hold any interest in the assets
of or profits arising from the ownership or lease of such property.