This is a question for New Jersey landlords which depending on the specific facts, can have many answers.
Residential tenants have certain rights under New Jersey law.
If you have a written unexpired lease, and the tenant breaks the lease by failing to pay rent and moves out, you can sue the tenant for the balance of the rent for the remainder of the lease. However, you must make a good faith effort to re-rent the apartment, and should be prepared to document that effort. Either a rental listing agreement with a realtor, or a newspaper ad or Craigslist post would suffice.
If you are in the process of evicting a tenant and that tenant moves out before the trial date, then it depends. If the tenant removes all of their belongings and returns the key to you, that is considered to be sufficient for you to change the locks and dismiss the eviction case.
If that tenant leaves belongings or does not return the key, then you should contact the tenant in writing, by email, letter or text, asking the tenant to confirm that s/he has vacated the apartment and that s/he is abandoning those belongings. If the tenant confirms that, then you can dismiss the eviction case and change the locks. However, if you are unable to contact the tenant, the safest bet is to go to court on the trial date and have the judge issue a judgment for possession. Then you can proceed to obtain a warrant for removal and schedule a lockout with the assigned court officer.
It should be noted that whenever a tenant leaves or is locked out, you cannot simply trash whatever belongings are left behind without the tenant’s consent. If the tenant does not consent up front, you are obligated to send the tenant a notice to their last known address that s/he has 33 days from the date of the notice to remove the belongings. Here is the link to the State of New Jersey bulletin on this topic: https://www.nj.gov/dca/codes/publications/pdf_lti/dis_remning_pers_proprty.pdf
It is always best to have an experienced New Jersey landlord tenant attorney in your corner at all times to guide and advise you. We only represent landlords. Contact us today for a free initial consultation.
