New Jersey Landlord Compliance Kit: Deposit, Notice and Eviction Checklists with an Excel Tracker

Who it is for

Landlords and property managers with rentals in New Jersey, and tenants who want the same record, from move-in through move-out or a court case.

Not the right fit if

Your rental is outside New Jersey: get that state's kit. Not legal advice, not a lawyer's review of a lease, notice or court case, and not a set of legal notice forms; city and county rules aren't covered.

Why it is different

• Built only from our New Jersey data files, checked November 2026 against 11 official pages, among them NJ Department of Community Affairs: Truth in Renting guide; New Jersey Department of Community Affairs: N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1, Anti-Eviction Act grounds for removal; New Jersey Legislature: N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.2 (required notice); New Jersey Courts: Information for Residential Tenants (CN 10288, rev. 06/2024); New Jersey Courts: Landlord Tenant Frequently Asked Questions (CN 11483); New Jersey Courts: Appendix XI-G(1) Residential Warrant of Removal (CN 12816), plus National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (a vetted secondary source, marked in the kit) where no official page could be read.
• 3 items the official pages didn't state are left out of the rules and put on a short look-up list with the page to check, never guessed.
• The workbook recalculates with zero formula errors and works out New Jersey notice and deposit dates for you.

What is inside

• Start here. How to use the kit, the 20 confirmed New Jersey rules at a glance and a short look-up list of 3 points to check: ending month-to-month (tenant), rent increase notice, hearing after filing, each with the official page.
• New Jersey landlord rules checklist. Deposits, notice periods, the eviction case and the small claims limit, each confirmed rule with its source link and check date. What it confirms: deposit limit: No more than one and one-half times one month's rent; any later yearly increase no more than 10% of the current deposit (46:8-21.2); return deadline: Within 30 days after the tenancy ends: the deposit plus interest, less lawful deductions, by personal delivery or registered or certified mail, with an itemized list of deductions; itemized list of deductions: An itemized list of deductions, sent by registered or certified mail (46:8-21.1); interest on the deposit: The interest belongs to the tenant, paid in cash or credited toward rent at renewal or the anniversary, or each January 31 if the tenant was told in writing (46:8-19(c)); where the deposit is held: In an insured bank or savings and loan in New Jersey, in an interest-bearing account (46:8-19); penalty the law states: The tenant may sue for double the amount wrongfully withheld (46:8-21.1); ending month-to-month (landlord): Under the Anti-Eviction Act, a tenant covered by the Act can be removed only for one of the good-cause grounds it lists, even after a lease ends; unpaid rent notice: The written demand and notice in 2A:18-61.2 is not required before a judgment for nonpayment of rent (grounds a and f); entry notice: Reasonable notice is normally one day; late fee limits: Tenants who are senior citizens receiving the benefits the law lists get a 5 business day grace period before a late charge; court: The Landlord Tenant Section of the Superior Court's Special Civil Part, in the county where the rental is; filing fee: $50 for one tenant, $5 for each additional defendant, plus mileage; a warrant of removal is $35 more; time to answer or appear: The tenant defends by coming to court on the trial date; a written statement can't be submitted instead; judgment to writ: Three business days after the judgment for possession, the landlord may ask the court for the warrant of removal; writ to lockout: After a Special Civil Part Officer serves the warrant, the tenant has three business days (not counting weekends or legal holidays) to leave; who carries out the lockout: Only a Special Civil Part Officer, not the landlord, serves and executes the warrant of removal.
• Move-in and move-out deposit checklist. A room-by-room condition checklist for both visits and the steps after move-out, with New Jersey's return deadline (within 30 days).
• Notice calendar. When each notice must go out: the lead time for every notice the state's text confirms, with a 2027 month-by-month serve-by table worked out with our notice date calculator's rules.
• Eviction timeline sheet. The New Jersey case in order from notice to lockout, with each confirmed stage, an example dated from a sample filing day where the rules give periods, and blanks for your own case dates.
• New Jersey landlord workbook (Excel). A tenant notice log that dates each notice from the New Jersey rules, a deposit tracker that works out the return date for each move-out, and a rent ledger with a running balance.