Establishes confidentiality of landlord-tenant court records; addresses adverse actions on rental applications.

A1744

ASSEMBLY, No. 1744

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman� CHIGOZIE U. ONYEMA

District 28 (Essex and Union)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson, Assemblyman Rodriguez and
Assemblywoman Brennan

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes confidentiality of landlord-tenant court
records; addresses adverse actions on rental applications.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning the confidentiality of court records of
landlord-tenant actions,
adverse actions on rental applications,
and supplementing Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� The Legislature finds
and declares that:

���� a.���� New Jersey remains in
the grip of a critical shortage of decent, affordable rental housing, a
situation first formally acknowledged more than 40 years ago and which prevails
today.� The New Jersey Legislature and the courts have on many occasions
recognized the severity of this crisis, especially for households of
lower-income, and have taken action to protect tenants from unnecessary,
unjust, and debilitating treatment or hardship.

���� b.��� New Jersey�s rental housing
shortage makes it difficult for people to find and retain decent, safe, and
affordable rental units.� Landlords and private tenant rating agencies, have
developed a system for disseminating tenant screening reports which exhibit
screening criteria, such as credit history and criminal history, to assist
landlords in evaluating prospective tenants.� Unfortunately, such screening
tools are often used pretextually, or are arbitrarily formulated and applied
without reference to common, agreed upon sets of standards.

���� c.���� One such screening
mechanism involves the collection of court filing data. Landlord-tenant court
actions are among the most commonly filed civil cases in the State of New
Jersey, and often involve situations in which the tenants in question have
valid legal or equitable defenses. Additionally, a large number of such cases
are dismissed or settled on terms favorable to the tenants involved.

���� d.��� At present, all
landlord-tenant court filing records are available to the public. These court
records are routinely mined by tenant rating agencies, which then sell
tenant-specific reports incorporating them to interested landlords.� In most
instances the data provided is limited to the single fact that a filing
occurred, without reference to, or investigation of, the facts and
circumstances surrounding the inception and resolution of the litigation.

���� e.���� The mere filing of a
court proceeding by or against a tenant, without regard to, or interest in, the
ultimate results of the proceeding, has in many cases been used by prospective
landlords and tenant screening agencies as the sole or primary reason for denying
an application for a residential tenancy, or the preparation of a report which
views the tenant unfavorably.� The result is that otherwise worthy applicants
are being denied access to critically-needed housing, often severely limiting
their housing options and subjecting them to possible homelessness.� This can
occur even if the actions which triggered the case filing were based upon
long-recognized common law or statutory remedies, such as rent withholding in
the case of serious, even life-threatening deficiencies in the living
conditions of the rented dwelling.

���� f.���� As a result, tenants
who assert and rely upon valid legal defenses or established legal rights, or
who otherwise prevail through litigation, settlement or dismissal, can
nevertheless find their ability to move to and obtain another rental unit
seriously compromised. This �blacklisting� of prospective tenants based solely
upon bare-bones court filing data can cause serious difficulty for individuals
and families applying for rental housing, and in some circumstances can result
in homelessness.� The use of court-filing screening also has a serious
�chilling effect� on tenants� assertion and exercise of their statutory and
common law rights.� This result is contrary to public policy the intent of the
courts, the Legislature, and the administrative bodies which established these
rights.

���� g.��� It is, therefore, in the
public interest of the State of New Jersey to protect tenants from unjust,
unfair, or discriminatory screening practices by limiting access to filing
information in court actions involving landlord-tenant matters for a reasonable
period of time, and permanently denying access to such information with regard
to matters in which the tenants prevailed or achieved a favorable settlement,
or which have been affected by the passage of time.

���� 2.��� a.� The court record of
a landlord-tenant action shall remain confidential and unavailable to the
public for the first 60 days after and including the date the action was filed.

���� b.��� The court record of a
landlord-tenant action shall remain confidential and unavailable to the public indefinitely
unless the action results in a judgment for possession.

���� c.���� The court record of a
landlord-tenant action that results in an unconditional judgment for possession
shall become public the later of the 61st day after the date the action was
filed or within 45 days after the date the matter is completely resolved,
however, if the matter is appealed by either party, the court record shall
remain confidential and unavailable to the public until the conclusion of the
appeal, and only be made available to the public if the landlord prevails.

���� d.��� The court record of a
landlord-tenant action shall remain confidential and unavailable to the public,
although a judgment for possession has been entered, if the judgment is subject
to conditions that, if met by the tenant, may result in the judgment being
vacated and the matter dismissed.� However, if the court finds, after notice to
the tenant and an opportunity to be heard, that the conditions have not been
met, the court record shall be made available to the public at the conclusion
of an appeal or an opportunity to appeal the judgment.

���� e.���� The court record of a
landlord-tenant action shall remain confidential and unavailable to the public,
although a judgment for possession has been entered, if the tenant files a
timely order to show cause seeking to vacate the judgment prior to being
physically locked out of the housing unit.� The court record shall remain
confidential and unavailable to the public until the order to show cause is
resolved, and shall remain confidential and unavailable to the public if the
tenant prevails.

���� f.���� The court records of
any cause of action brought by a tenant asserting a legal right against a
landlord shall remain confidential and unavailable to the public indefinitely,
regardless of whether the tenant prevails, unless the tenant voluntarily
consents to making the court record available to the public.

���� 3.��� As used in this act:

���� �Court record� means any
record containing information regarding a past or current landlord-tenant
action, and any record of the filing of a landlord-tenant action, including but
not limited to:

���� a.���� any information
maintained by a court in any form in connection with a case or judicial
proceeding, including but not limited to pleadings, motions, briefs and their
respective attachments, evidentiary exhibits, indices, calendars, and dockets;

���� b.��� any order, judgment,
opinion, or decree related to a judicial proceeding;

c.���� any
official transcript or recording of a public judicial proceeding, in any form;

���� d.��� any information in a
computerized case management system created or prepared by the court in
connection with a case or judicial proceeding; and

���� e.���� any record made or
maintained by a judicial officer.

���� �Landlord-tenant action� means
any action brought by or against a landlord or tenant in the Special Civil part
of the New Jersey Superior Court.

���� 4.��� a.� Any New Jersey
public entity that maintains a written or automated record or file of court
records of landlord-tenant actions shall take appropriate actions to ensure
that court records of all landlord-tenant actions that did not result in a
judgment for possession are kept confidential and unavailable to the public.

���� b.��� A tenant involved in a
landlord-tenant action that resulted in a judgment of possession may apply to
the Administrative Office of the Courts and request that the court records of
any action resulting in a judgment of possession more than three years prior
thereto be purged.�

���� c.���� The Supreme Court of
New Jersey may adopt rules, and the Administrative Director of the Courts may
issue directives and guidelines, to implement the purposes of this act.

���� 5.��� When evaluating a
prospective tenant, a landlord shall not consider:

���� a.���� a landlord-tenant
action brought by or against a tenant which did not result in a judgment for
possession, or which did result in a judgment for possession but was then
dismissed or reversed; or

���� b.��� a judgment for
possession that was entered and executed against the prospective or existing
tenant three or more years prior to the tenant�s application for tenancy.�

���� 6.��� If a landlord rejects an
application from a prospective tenant, approves an application with conditions
that exceed reasonable conditions routinely imposed upon a prospective tenant,
or takes any other adverse action on a rental application, the landlord shall
provide a written notice of the adverse action to the prospective tenant that
states the reasons for the adverse action.� The adverse action notice shall
disclose any screening information about the prospective tenant accessed by the
landlord, and shall append any screening report about the prospective tenant
that was accessed by the landlord.� The adverse action notice shall be provided
in a substantially similar format as set forth in this section.

ADVERSE
ACTION NOTICE

Name

Address

City/State/Zip Code

This notice is to inform you that
your application has been:

..... Rejected

..... Approved, subject to the
following conditions:

_______________________________________________________

Adverse action on your application
was based, in part, on the following:

..... Information contained in a
consumer report (The prospective landlord must include the name, address, and
phone number of the consumer reporting agency that furnished the consumer
report that contributed to the adverse action.)

..... Information received from
previous rental history or reference

..... Information received in a
criminal record

..... Information received in a
court filing or other court record

..... Information received from an
employment verification

..... Other

The following is (are) the name(s),
address(es), and phone number(s) of each of the consumer reporting agencies, or
other agencies or entities, that furnished the reports or information referred
to above:

_______________________________________________________

Your application was not accepted,
or was approved with the additional conditions described above, for the
following reasons:� _______________________________________________________

Dated this ..... day of ........,
....(year)

Agent/Owner Signature"

���� 7.��� Any person who violates section
5 or 6 of this act shall, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, be
liable for a penalty of not less than $1,000 for the first offense, and not
less than $5,000 for the second and each subsequent offense, plus reasonable
attorney fees.� This penalty shall be exclusive of, and in addition to, any
moneys or property ordered to be paid or restored to any person in interest.

���� 8.��� This act shall take
effect immediately and shall apply retroactively to court records of all
landlord-tenant actions.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would preserve the
confidentiality of the court records of landlord-tenant actions under certain
circumstances.� The bill defines the term �court records� expansively to
include any record containing information regarding a past or current
landlord-tenant action, and any record of the filing of a landlord-tenant
action.� The bill defines the term �landlord-tenant action� as any action
brought by or against a landlord or tenant in the Special Civil part of the New
Jersey Superior Court.

���� The bill specifically provides
that the court record of a landlord-tenant action will remain confidential and
unavailable to the public for the first 60 days after and including the date
the action is filed.� Under the bill, the court record of a landlord-tenant
action will remain confidential and unavailable to the public indefinitely
unless the action results in a judgment for possession.

���� The bill provides that if a
landlord-tenant action results in an unconditional judgment for possession, the
court record of the action will become public on the later of the 61st day
after the date the action was filed or within 45 days after the date the matter
is completely resolved.� However, if the matter is appealed by either party,
the court record remains confidential and unavailable to the public until the
conclusion of the appeal, and will only be made available to the public if the
landlord prevails.

���� The bill also provides that
the court record of a landlord-tenant action will remain confidential and
unavailable to the public although a judgment for possession has been entered,
if the judgment is subject to conditions that, if met by the tenant, may result
in the judgment being vacated and the matter dismissed.� However, if the court
finds, after notice to the tenant and an opportunity to be heard, that the
conditions have not been met, the court record shall be made available to the
public at the conclusion of an appeal or an opportunity to appeal the judgment.

���� Under the bill, the court
record of a landlord-tenant action will remain confidential and unavailable to
the public after entry of a judgment for possession if the tenant files a
timely order to show cause seeking to vacate the judgment prior to being physically
locked out of the housing unit.� In this circumstance, the court record will
remain confidential and unavailable to the public until the order to show cause
is resolved, and will remain confidential and unavailable to the public if the
tenant prevails.

���� The bill provides that the
court record of any cause of action brought by a tenant asserting a legal right
against a landlord will remain confidential and unavailable to the public
indefinitely, regardless of whether the tenant prevails, unless the tenant
voluntarily consents to making the court record available to the public.

���� The bill also addresses the
use of court records by landlords when evaluating prospective tenants.� The
bill prohibits a landlord, when evaluating a prospective tenant, from
considering a landlord-tenant action brought by or against a tenant that did
not result in a judgment for possession, or which did result in a judgment for
possession but was then dismissed or reversed.� The bill also prohibits
landlords from considering a judgment for possession that was entered and
executed against a prospective or existing tenant three or more years prior to
the tenant�s application for tenancy.�

���� Additionally, the bill would
require a landlord who takes an adverse action on a rental application to
provide written notice of the adverse action to the prospective tenant, stating
the reasons for the adverse action.� The adverse action notice must disclose
any screening information about the prospective tenant accessed by the
landlord, and must append any screening report about the prospective tenant
that was accessed by the landlord.�

���� The bill would authorize
imposition of a penalty on a landlord who violates the bill�s provisions concerning
the improper screening of tenants.� Specifically, the bill provides that in
addition to any other penalty provided by law, a landlord will be liable for a
penalty of not less than $1,000 for a first offense, and not less than $5,000
for a second and each subsequent offense, plus reasonable attorney fees.� This penalty
would be exclusive of, and in addition to, any moneys or property ordered to be
paid or restored to any person in interest.