Introduction The eviction process in New Jersey has long been plagued by a lack of transparency, accessibility, and fairness. As noted in Maintaining Our Communities, Report of the Judiciary Special Committee on Landlord-Tenant: The need to reexamine and reform landlord-tenant did not arise with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Rather, the current unparalleled emergency triggered the suspension of residential evictions and nearly all landlord-tenant trials. In so doing, the public health emergency imposed a pause that enabled judges, attorneys, court staff, and advocates to take a step back and consider the landlord-tenant docket not as it has been for decades, but for how it could be for the future. ***** The need for reform is overwhelming, and the timeframe for developing and implementing change is narrow. Maintaining Our Communities: Report of the Judiciary Special Committee on Landlord Tenant 15-17 (submitted by Glenn A. Grant, J.A.D., Acting Administrative Director of the Courts; Chair, Special Committee on Landlord Tenant, April 2021). And as noted by the Legislature: It is, therefore, necessary for the Legislature to assist landlords who have suffered deep economic losses through no fault of their tenants or themselves, and, simultaneously, make efforts to assist tenants who need help as a result of this crisis, in order to ensure some measure of security and stability for their families and communities; provide landlords with the restored rental income stream required to safely and efficiently operate their buildings; and prevent a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic that will threaten the health and safety of tenants, landlords, and the public at large. N.J.S.A. 52:27D-287.7(j). The State of New Jersey has been and continues to be a national leader in fashioning a multi-faceted response to the worsening of the eviction crisis due to the pandemic. The Judiciary implemented comprehensive reforms in eviction procedures. Administrative Determinations by the Supreme Court on the Report and Recommendations of the
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