Editor's Note: Prior history includes Ord. No. 2578 as codified
in the 2015 Code at Section 12-13. Ord. No. 2016-33 amended and relocated
provisions requiring bonds/security on certain rental properties/units
to Chapter XIII.
[Ord. No. 2016-33]
The City Council finds, determines and declares that:
a.
Asbury Park is a resort community and its citizens have experienced
disturbances, damage and public expense resulting from carelessly
granted and inadequately supervised rentals to irresponsible tenants
and/or vacationers 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 municipality
as a viable vacation resort for all persons and families availing
themselves of the facilities in the community.
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, seasonal or otherwise.
d.
The Legislature of the State of New Jersey enacted N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.12(n),
et seq., to enable certain communities to take effective action to
assure that excesses, when they occur, shall not be repeated, and
that landlords be held to sufficient standards of responsibility.
[Ord. No. 2016-33]
For the purpose of this section, the following meanings shall
apply:
shall mean a licensed attorney of the State of New Jersey
appointed by the Mayor and Council. The hearing officer shall not
own or lease any real property within the City of Asbury Park, nor
hold any interest in the assets of or profits arising from the ownership
of such property.
shall mean 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,
which building contains no more than four (4) dwelling units.
shall mean any rental of residential accommodations for a
term of less than one (1) year and includes any part of the period
extending from May 15 to September 15.
shall mean a complaint which may form the basis for proceedings
in accordance with the provisions of this section.
[Ord. No. 2016-33]
a.
If, in any twenty-four (24) month period, two (2) or more complaints,
on separate occasions, of conduct, including by way of example, but
not limited to, simple assault, assault, terroristic threats, harassment,
lewdness, urinating in public, 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, have
been substantiated by prosecution and conviction in any court of competent
jurisdiction as a violation of any provision of Title 2C of the New
Jersey Statutes or any municipal ordinance governing disorderly conduct,
the City Manager or his/her designee may institute proceedings to
require the landlord of the rental premises to post a bond against
the consequences of future incidents of the same character.
b.
Notice to Landlord.
1.
In the event a tenant is convicted of any of the conduct described in Subsection a. above, the City Manager shall cause notice advising that the conduct specified has occurred to be served on the landlord, in person or by registered mail, at the address appearing on the tax records of the City.
2.
The City Manager or his/her designee shall cause to be served upon
the landlord, in person or by registered mail, to the address appearing
on the tax records of the City, notice advising of the institution
of such proceedings, together with particulars of the substantiated
complaint(s) 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 or Municipal Court, and which shall be
no sooner than thirty (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 City and to any evidence in contradiction or mitigation that the landlord, if present or represented or offering such evidence, may present. The hearing officer may consider, to the extent deemed relevant by the hearing officer, prior complaints about the residents of the property, even if those complaints did not result in a conviction. 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 section.
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 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; and
3.
Compensating the City for the costs of repressing and prosecuting
such incidents of disorderly behavior; provided, however, no such
bond shall be in an amount less than five hundred ($500) dollars nor
more than five thousand ($5,000) dollars. The City may enforce the
bond thus required by an 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 City.
4.
Any bond or other security deposited in compliance with Subsection d3 above shall remain in force for a period of four (4) years. Upon the lapse of the four (4) 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 § 13-1200.4 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 of security imposed under this section. 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, the Mayor and Council may by resolution shorten the period for which security is required to not less than one (1) 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.
[Ord. No. 2016-33]
a.
If during the period for which a landlord is required to give security pursuant to § 13-1200.3 above, a substantiated complaint is recorded against the property in question, the City Manager or his/her designee may institute proceedings against the landlord for the forfeiture or partial forfeiture of the security, for an extension 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 § 13-1200.3d 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 § 13-1200.3d 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 action indicates the appropriateness of such change in order to effectually carry out the purposes of this section. The decision of the hearing officer in such circumstances shall be enforceable in the same manner as provided in § 13-1200.3d above.
