What is New Jersey's Abandoned Properties Rehabilitation Act?
The state law that deals with abandoned buildings is called the Abandoned Properties Rehabilitation Act. A qualified town that has appointed a public officer can pass an ordinance telling that officer to find abandoned properties and put them on an abandoned property list.
The law says abandoned properties are presumed to be nuisances because of their harm to nearby properties and the people who live in or use them.
When is a house legally abandoned in New Jersey?
A town's public officer can declare a property abandoned if it has not been legally occupied for six months and it meets at least one more test in the law.
- One test: in the public officer's judgment the property needs rehabilitation, and none has been done in those six months.
- Another test: at least one property tax installment on it is unpaid and overdue.
How do I report an abandoned house in New Jersey?
Any interested party can ask the town's public officer in writing to put a property on the abandoned property list, giving its street address, block and lot number, and the reasons. Interested parties include any resident of the town, any owner or operator of a business there, and groups that represent residents.
The public officer must answer in writing within 30 days, saying either that the property will be added or why it will not.
You can also tell me where it is. I'll find out who owns it and reach out about buying it and fixing it up.
Can a New Jersey town take over an abandoned house?
Yes, through the courts. A town can go to Superior Court to take possession and control of an abandoned property that needs rehabilitation. If the court finds the property abandoned and the owner has not put forward and started a rehabilitation plan, it can let the town take possession and control and develop a rehabilitation plan.
An owner can fight the case by submitting a rehabilitation plan and posting a bond equal to 125 percent of the projected cost of rehabilitation. With court approval, the public officer can put a lien on the property to cover the town's costs in the case.
Towns can hold special tax sales for properties that are on their abandoned property list and eligible for a tax sale.
In an eminent domain case over an abandoned property, the law presumes the property is worth zero, and the owner is owed nothing, if fixing or rebuilding it would cost more than it would be worth afterward; that presumption can be challenged.
Who has to maintain a vacant house in foreclosure in New Jersey?
The lender does. If a home in foreclosure becomes vacant before the lender or anyone else takes title, and its outside is a nuisance or breaks a state or local code, the town notifies the lender, which then has to fix the problem in the same way, and to the same extent, as the owner would.
A lender that serves foreclosure papers on a home in New Jersey must tell the town clerk and the mayor or other chief executive within 10 days. A lender based out of state must also give the name, address and phone number of a New Jersey representative who is responsible for the outside of the property if it becomes vacant and abandoned.
The lender gets at least 30 days to fix it, and if it does not, the town can impose the penalties its ordinances allow.
Where a town has a registration ordinance, it must make that lender responsible for the care, upkeep and security of the outside of the property whenever it is vacant and abandoned while registered. A lender that a court finds broke such an ordinance can be fined $1,500 a day, and an out-of-state lender that fails to appoint a New Jersey representative can be fined $2,500 a day.
Do vacant houses have to be registered in New Jersey?
Where a town requires it, the foreclosing lender registers the property. State law lets each town pass an ordinance creating a registration program for homes and commercial properties in foreclosure, and under such an ordinance, the lender that filed the foreclosure must register the property with the town.
A town's yearly registration fee can be no more than $500 per property in foreclosure, plus up to $2,000 more per year if the property is vacant or abandoned.
A town's rules for the lender can include securing the property against break-ins, posting a sign inside it, visible to the public, with the lender's name, address and phone number, and carrying liability insurance through a vacancy policy.
For these ordinances, a property counts as vacant and abandoned if no borrower or tenant legally occupies it, it cannot legally be reoccupied, and at least two signs from a list in the law are present. Signs on that list include statements from neighbors, delivery people or government employees that the property is vacant and abandoned.