During this informative and practical seminar, a panel of experienced practitioners will walk you through a classic proceeding and discuss what you need to know to prosecute and to defend residential landlord-tenant cases in New Jersey. You’ll learn the perspectives of both the landlord and tenant in a residential matter and pick up practice tips that will help you effectively represent your clients in the future.

Learn everything you need to know when counseling landlord-tenant clients, including:
• Evaluating the Tenant - Income and credit evaluation in the application process; References; Discrimination based on race, sex and ethnic origin; Marital status, children and source of income; Disabilities
• Types of Tenancies - Month to month tenancy with or without written agreement; Lease agreement for fixed period; Holdover tenants; Transient or seasonal tenants
• Drafting the Residential Lease Agreement - Truth in renting; Security deposit law; Landlord registration act; Municipal regulations and rent control; Use of form leases; Late charges; Attorney fee provisions on default; Attempts to waive statutory provisions; Rules and regulations of tenancy; Furnishings; Options to purchase
• The Implied Warranty of Habitability - Rent withholding and/or payment into escrow or the court; Repair and deduct; Rent abatements; Affirmative actions for rent abatement
• The Summary Dispossess Act - Possession only; Tenancies exempt from the act; Tenancies subject to the act; Failure to pay rent due and owing; Disorderly conduct; Willful or gross negligence causing or allowing destruction or damage to property; Breach of rules and regulations; Violation of lease; Failure to pay rent increase; Displacement required directly or indirectly by government action; Retirement of building from housing market; Failure to accept reasonable changes in the Lease at termination; Habitual failure to pay rent; Conversion to condominium or cooperative ownership; Personal occupancy of three units or less; Tenancy conditioned on employment; Conviction for drug or other crimes; Theft from landlord
• Summary Dispossess Procedural Requirements - Notice to cease; Notice to quit and demand for possession; Filing the complaint for possession; Pre-trial procedures
• The Trial - Procedural defenses; Habitability; Retaliatory eviction; Waiver or estoppel by the tenant; Waiver by the landlord; Violations of rent leveling; Unconscionable rent increases; Application of fair debt collection practices act to attorneys prosecuting summary dispossess actions; Judgment of possession
• Post-Trial Procedures - Warrant of removal; Hardship stay of eviction; The lock out of the tenant; Removal of summary dispossess action to superior court; Jury trials; Res judicata; Appeals; Self help remedies; Distraint
• The Voluntary Move Out - Avoiding security deposit litigation; Abandoned property
• Rent Leveling - The local ordinance; Hardship formula; Tax and capital improvements surcharges; Registration; Rent increase requirements.

Note: The corresponding book for this program is “Landlord/Tenant Practice (2009)” from NJICLE’s Skills and Methods Course. If you have recently purchased the handbook, please feel free to select from the other registration options.