[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Palisades
Park 6-20-2000 by Ord. No. 1351. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
Any tenant 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 section.
A municipality may 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 § 233-1 of this chapter from 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 a municipality 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 Section 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 requiring reimbursement from the owner-landlord of the
structure for relocation assistance paid to a displaced tenant, the owner-landlord
may be fined for zoning or housing code violation for an illegal occupancy,
up to an amount equal to six times the monthly rental paid by the displaced
person, to be paid to the municipality by the owner-landlord of the structure.
A.
In addition to this penalty, a municipality, 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 cost 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 municipality
pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L. 1999, c. 274 (N.J.S.A.
2A:58-10 et seq.). The Municipal Court and the Superior Court shall have jurisdiction
of proceedings for the enforcement of the penalty provided by this section.
The tuition cost shall be determined in the 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 appropriate school district.
B.
For the purposes of this section, the owner-landlord
of a structure shall exclude mortgagees in possession of a structure through
foreclosure. For the purposes of this section, a "second or subsequent violation
for an illegal occupancy" shall be limited to those violations that are new
and are a 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 during the time period required for
summary dispossession proceedings to conclude if the owner has initiated eviction
proceedings in a court of proper jurisdiction.
A municipality may provide by resolution that where a tenant residing
in a structure of two dwelling units or more is displaced from his dwelling
by fire or other emergency, and the damage resulting from the fire or other
emergency in the judgment of the housing inspector or other official charged
with equivalent responsibility is such as to render the dwelling uninhabitable,
the tenant shall be deemed a displaced person under the "Relocation Assistance
Act" and shall be eligible for relocation assistance as afforded persons displaced
as a result of code enforcement activities. State appropriations of relocation
assistance shall not be used for this purpose unless specifically permitted
by language in the annual appropriations act.
The borough shall create a revolving relocation assistance fund to be
funded in such amount as may be determined by the borough.
Any owner-landlord who has received notice of an additional fine for
zoning or housing code violation shall be entitled to a hearing before the
Construction Code Official or the Zoning Officer, depending upon which is
the applicable fining officer, within 10 days after notice that a fine is
intended to be imposed.
