ABSTRACT
In New Jersey, approximately 120 cities, including all nine cities in the state with 70,000 or more inhabitants, have rent control ordinances. In the 1980s, a strong condominium market developed in New Jersey, and conversion of apartments to condominiums became widespread. In 1977 the state supreme court struck down a freeze on the rents of units occupied by low-income senior tenants. Under the ordinance in question, the municipality would pay up to, but not more than, an additional 10 percent of the rents for units occupied by seniors in the event that the landlord was entitled to additional rents after the rents of other units had been raised 15 percent. In some communities with an especially attractive condominium market, a substantial portion of all units were converted; in some counties there was even an overall loss of rental units between 1980 and 1990.
