The Township Council finds, determines and declares that:
A.
Toms River Township is a resort community and its citizens have experienced
disturbances, damage and public expense resulting from carelessly
granted and inadequately supervised seasonal rentals to irresponsible
vacationers by inept or indifferent landlords.
B.
The article is enacted to preserve the peace and tranquility of the
community for its permanent residents and to maintain the municipality
as a viable vacation resort for all persons and families availing
themselves of the facilities in the community.
C.
The enactment of this article is necessary and desirable to provide
a means to curb and discourage those occasional excesses arising from
irresponsible seasonal 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 seasonal rentals be held to sufficient standards
of responsibility.
For the purpose of this article, the following meanings shall
apply:
A licensed attorney of the State of New Jersey appointed
by the Township Council. The hearing officer shall not own or lease
any real property within the Township of Toms River, nor hold any
interest in the assets of or profits arising from the ownership of
such property.
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, P.L. 1967, c. 76 (N.J.S.A. 55:13A-1 et seq.), and owner-occupied
two-unit premises. In the case of a mobile home park, "landlord" means
the owner of an individual dwelling unit within the mobile home park.
A rental of residential accommodations for a term of less
than 30 days, and no shorter than two days, between April 1 and November
30 on the Barrier Island. "Barrier Island" refers to the area of the
Township juxtaposed geographically between the Barnegat Bay and the
Atlantic Ocean.
[Amended 12-12-2017 by Ord. No. 4563-17]
An act 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
which have been substantiated by prosecution and conviction in any
court of competent jurisdiction.
A.
If, in any one year, three complaints, on separate occasions, of
disorderly, indecent, tumultuous or notorious 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 Township Council or any officer or employee of the Township of
Toms River so designated by the Township Council for this purpose
may institute proceedings to require the landlord of the seasonal
rental premises to post a bond against the consequences of future
incidents of the same character.
B.
The Township Council or any such employee of the municipality designated
by the Township Council 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 complaint
upon which those proceedings are based, and of the time and place
at which the hearing will be held in the matter, which shall be in
the Municipal Building, Municipal Court or such other public place
as designated by the Township Council, and which shall be no sooner
than 30 days from the date upon which the notice is served or mailed.
C.
At the hearing convened pursuant to Subsection B above, the hearing officer shall give full hearing to both the complaint of the municipality and to any evidence in contradiction or mitigation that the landlord, if present or represented and offering such evidence, may present. At the conclusion of the hearing, the hearing officer shall determine whether the landlord shall be required to post a bond in accordance with the terms of this article.
D.
Any bond required to be posted shall be in accordance with the judgment
of the hearing officer, in light of the nature and extent of the offenses
indicated in the substantiated complaints upon which the proceedings
are based, to be adequate in the case of subsequent offenses to make
reparation for:
(1)
Damages likely to be caused to public or private property and damages
consequent upon disruption of affected residents' rights of fair use
and quiet enjoyment of their premises.
(2)
Securing the payment of fines and penalties likely to be levied for
such offenses.
(3)
Compensating the municipality for the costs of repressing and prosecuting
such incidents of disorderly behavior; provided, however, that no
such bond shall be in an amount less than $500 nor more than $5,000.
The municipality may enforce a bond thus 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 municipality.
E.
Any bond or other security deposited in compliance with Subsection D above shall remain in force for a period of four years. Upon the lapse of the four-year period, the landlord shall be entitled to the discharge of the bond, unless prior thereto further proceedings leading to a forfeiture or partial forfeiture of the bond or other security shall have been had under § 335-29 below, in which case the security shall be renewed in an amount and for a period that shall be specified by the hearing officer. A transfer of ownership or control of the property shall not void a requirement for security imposed under this chapter. The person or persons to whom ownership or control is transferred shall maintain that security and shall be subject to injunctive proceedings as authorized by Subsection D above in the same manner as the landlord upon which the requirement was originally imposed; provided, however, that the Township Council may, by resolution, shorten the period for which security is required to not less than one year from the date of the transfer of ownership or control, if during that year no substantiated complaints are recorded with respect to the property in question.
A.
If, during the period for which a landlord is required to give security pursuant to § 335-28 above, a substantiated complaint is recorded against the property in question, the Township Council or its designee may institute proceedings against the landlord for the forfeiture or partial forfeiture of the security; for an extension, as provided in § 335-28E above, of the period for which the security is required; or for an increase in the amount of security required; or for any or all of those purposes.
B.
Any forfeiture or partial forfeiture of security shall be determined by the hearing officer solely in accordance with the amount deemed necessary to provide for the compensatory purposes set forth in § 335-28E above. Any decision by the hearing officer to increase the amount or extend the period of the required security shall be determined in light of the same factors set forth in § 335-28D above and shall be taken only to the extent that the nature of the substantiated complaint or complaints out of which proceedings arise under this section indicates the appropriateness of such change in order to effectually carry out the purposes of this chapter. The decision of the hearing officer in such circumstances shall be enforceable in the same manner as provided in § 335-28D above.
