The following definitions shall apply to this chapter:
AVAILABLE FOR RENT TO TENANTS
Fit for habitation, as defined by the statutes, codes and
ordinances in full force and effect in the State of New Jersey, County
of Ocean, and Township of Manchester, and occupied or unoccupied and
offered for rent.
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX
The consumer price index (all items) for the region of the
United States of which the Township of Manchester, New Jersey is a
part, published periodically by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United
States Department of Labor. The index used will be the CPI-U index.
MOBILE HOME PARK
A parcel of land which has been so designed and improved
that it contains two or more mobile/manufactured home lots available
to the general public for the placement thereon of mobile/manufactured
homes for occupancy.
MOBILE HOME SPACE
Includes that portion of a mobile home park rented or offered
for rent, for the purpose of parking or positioning a trailer, mobile
or manufactured home for living and dwelling purposes, to one or more
tenants or family units, together with all the privileges, services,
equipment, facilities and improvements connected with the use or occupancy
of such portion of the property. Mobile home spaces which are newly
constructed and rented for the first time are exempted, and the initial
rent may be determined by the owner. All subsequent rents will be
subject to the provisions of this chapter.
REASONABLE AND NECESSARY OPERATING EXPENSES
All expenses actually incurred and accrued by the landlord
for the operation of the mobile home park during a calendar year.
Reasonable and necessary operating expenses shall be computed in accordance
with the following limitations and requirements:
A.
Taxes shall be limited to amounts actually paid solely on the
mobile home park.
B.
Repair and maintenance expenses shall not include expenditures
for major improvements or items which meet the definition of capital
improvements.
C.
Professional fees, including legal and accounting expenses,
shall be limited to actual costs for day-to-day operation of the park.
Legal and accounting expenses resulting solely from an application
made pursuant to this chapter or resulting in legal challenges of
this chapter shall be considered "reasonable and necessary operating
expenses," as defined in this chapter.
D.
Management expenses shall be limited to the amounts paid for
actual services performed by a manager of a management firm. In no
event shall a fee for management services exceed what the Rent Board
determines to be reasonable.
RENTAL INCOME
The payable rent charged and received for the mobile home space over the previous twelve-month period exclusive of any of the following: all real property taxes, space fees or license fee charged by the Township of Manchester pursuant to any duly adopted ordinance, any cost of utilities if the same are provided for by the landlord and any increase for major improvements as permitted by §
326-8B hereof.
UTILITIES
The minimum rate charged for sewerage, water service and
private trash collection. In areas where there are no public sewer
or water service utilities, it shall include private septic and private
well systems. Any single renovation of an existing utility system
which meets the definition of a major improvement under this chapter
is excepted from this definition.
The landlord shall provide and disclose to all new tenants,
in writing, upon execution of a lease the sums allocated in the gross
rent paid to the landlord for the following items:
D. Any other special expense.
Any rental income or additional charge increase at a time other
than at the expiration of a tenancy or the termination of a periodic
tenancy shall be void, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
Any rental income or additional charge increase in excess of that
authorized by the provisions of this chapter shall be void.
A tenant shall be entitled to a rent reduction from a landlord
because of a decrease in the municipal property taxes or utilities
or any decrease in space fees or license fee charged by the municipality.
The reduction shall not exceed that amount authorized by the following
provisions:
A. Where the decrease consists of a decrease in the municipal property
tax due to aid received from the State Aid for Schools Fund and where
said decrease is subject to the provisions of c. 63, P.L. 1976 (N.J.S.A.
54:4-6.2 et seq.), as may be amended from time to time, the landlord
shall make such rebate and upon such terms as c. 63, P.L. 1976, provides.
B. Where the decrease consists of a decrease in the municipal property tax other than that decrease provided for in Subsection
A above, the landlord shall divide the decrease in the present tax over the tax for the previous year by the total number of mobile home spaces in the mobile home park. The decrease each tenant is entitled to shall be a rent reduction computed pursuant to §
326-7 hereof.
C. Where the decrease consists of a decrease in utilities, space fees
or license fee, the landlord shall divide the decrease in the present
utilities, mobile home space fees or license fee over the utilities,
mobile home space fees or license fee of the previous year by the
total number of mobile home spaces in the mobile home park to obtain
the decrease per space. The decrease each tenant is entitled to shall
be a credit to rent in 12 monthly installments commencing from the
effective date of said reduction. Any tenant entitled to a rent decrease
hereunder shall be notified by the landlord, by ordinary mail, together
with filing of an affidavit of mailing by the landlord, of the calculations
involved in computing such reduction and the effective date of such
reduction.
A landlord shall be entitled to a rent surcharge for any increase
in municipal property taxes. Any landlord seeking a surcharge for
property taxes shall notify the tenants, by certified mail at least
30 days prior to the date of which said increase is to be effective,
of the calculations involved, including the property tax for the mobile
home park for the previous year and the increase in the present tax
over the tax for the previous year divided by the total number of
mobile home spaces in the mobile home park. The tax surcharge each
tenant is liable for shall be divided by 12 months and payable in
monthly installments. Should taxes be reduced, the tenants' rents
will be adjusted (reduced) pursuant to this same formula.
Both a landlord and tenant may appeal, in writing, the findings
of the Rent Leveling Board to a court of competent jurisdiction or
any other body agreed upon by the parties. The Township Council shall
not hear any appeals. All expenses associated with the cost of an
appeal shall be the responsibility of the parties. The Township Council
will have no authority to hear appeals of decisions made by the Board.
Willful violation of any provisions of this chapter, including
but not limited to the willful filing with the Administrator of any
material misstatement of fact, shall be punishable by a fine of not
more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both,
in the discretion of the court. A violation affecting more than one
leasehold shall be considered a separate violation as to each leasehold.
Upon the transfer of title to new tenants or upon the voluntary,
uncoerced vacating or court-ordered eviction, or a repossession of
any mobile home by a lender holding a secured interest in same located
on any mobile home space for which rent increases are controlled by
the terms of this chapter and upon compliance with Subsections A to
B below, at the time of the rerental of a rental unit the rental increase
restrictions of this chapter shall not apply, and a landlord shall
be entitled to apply this market adjustment provisions for the rent
to be charged for that mobile home space. However, the market adjustment
provisions shall not apply a) where a landlord-tenant relationship
exists between the landlord and the proposed new tenant where that
tenant is transferring to a new rental unit owned by the same landlord
on the same property, and b) for any subsequent rental increase for
the market-adjusted rental unit unless there is another, separate
vacancy event as described in the first sentence of this section.
Further clarifying this item b), if a multiyear lease is proposed
for a market-adjusted rental unit, only the initial rent set forth
in such lease is subject to market adjustment. All subsequent rentals
charged, even those set forth within the multiyear lease, must comply
with the rental restrictions of this chapter. When seeking to implement
a market adjustment, the landlord shall comply with each of the following:
A. The landlord shall file with the Rent Board a certification, in such
form as prescribed by the Board and signed by the landlord, that the
surrender of possession by the vacating tenant was voluntary and uncoerced
or pursuant to a lawful court-ordered eviction or repossession.
B. The landlord shall file with the Rent Board the name and address
of the vacating tenant, the then current rental amount of the vacated
mobile home space, an identification of the vacated mobile home space
and the rent to be charged to the new tenant.