Bill > A3996

Introduced Session

This bill requires certain record keeping related to municipal rent control compliance. The bill directs the Department of Community Affairs (department) to publish a rent control compliance form for landlords of units located in municipalities that have adopted rent control ordinances to submit required information to the clerk of the municipality in which the unit is located. The bill requires the municipal clerk, or other municipal official as is designated by the clerk, to index and file the rent control compliance forms. The department would be required to develop and make available an Internet system for each municipality to digitize its rent control compliance records and make them available to the public on the department's Internet website. The bill appropriates $2 million to the department and directs the department to provide grants to municipalities to assist in the digitization of the municipality's rent control compliance records. The bill further authorizes the establishment of a municipal fee to pay for the municipality's actual costs of compliance with the bill. The bill establishes that missing or incomplete records for a residential rental property constitutes presumption that no valid exemption to the municipal rent control ordinance exists. The bill also establishes a penalty for a landlord who knowingly provides false information on a rent control compliance form. The bill further directs the department to conduct an audit of the Internet system and publish an annual report identifying municipalities with deficient record-keeping practices. The bill provides a timeline for when certain information and resources are to be made available and when certain forms and recordkeeping standards are to be completed. The bill would take effect immediately, except that the provision that a missing or incomplete record will establish a presumption that no valid exemption exist shall not take effect until the first day of the twelfth month next following enactment, which is the deadline for municipal clerks to digitize the rent control compliance records.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Katie Brennan (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Housing Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document