Another Hoboken Luxury Building, the Jordan, Is Under Rent Control, City Says

HOBOKEN, NJ — Another Hoboken luxury building is now under rent control, limiting its annual increases to around 5 percent, with some exceptions, city officials determined this week.

The Jordan, a 1- and 2-unit luxury apartment building at 1200 Clinton St., is not exempt from Hoboken's Rent Control Ordinance, the Hoboken Rent Leveling Board determined at a hearing Wednesday night.

The property's rental website says a one-bedroom starts at $3,929 per month.

The amount that Hoboken landlords can raise the rents may be regulated by both local and state laws.

State laws apply to all buildings in the city and effectively prohibit "unconscionable" increases, although the exact number is often left to the courts (read more about that here).

Hoboken's Rent Control Ordinance — passed in 1971 and modified several times since then — applies to many buildings either constructed before 30 years ago, or those that did not properly apply for a state exemption from local laws when they were built. Buildings that are exempt also must notify tenants in their lease that the building is exempt.

That Rent Control Ordinance currently limits increases to a few percentage points each year, but also allows some exceptions, such as landlords passing along tax and water increases to be split among tenants. Rent controlled buildings can also get a vacancy decontrol every three years.

Building like the Jordan fall into the category of newer buildings that are not exempt because they didn't follow various laws, a situation that also applied to the Rivington last year (see Rivington Rent Hikes Reduced; Hoboken Says They're An 'Injustice')

On Thursday, 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen issued a statement in response to the Rent Leveling Board's Wednesday decision, saying, "I applaud the Rent Leveling and Stabilization Board’s members’ finding that The Jordan is not exempt from the provisions of Hoboken’s Rent Control Ordinance.”

He said that he, Mayor Ravi Bhalla, and the city's tenant advocate, Andrew Sobel, helped tenants during the process (the city has had a tenant advocate on staff for decades to help navigate the choppy legal waters of rent control; you can make an appointment here.) You can also get a legal calculation from the city of what your legal rent can be.

But will the city's Rent Control Ordinance continue to exist as it stands?

Last year, the City Council considered several rounds of modification. And just this week, a local property owners' group was successful in court in challenging aspects of rent control in nearby Union City. Sources have said the group is now considering challenging Hoboken's law via a public vote.

Patch has written more than a dozen stories about ongoing rent controversies in Hoboken. For more information:

Other Information

Read about state laws about increases, eviction, and Truth in Renting here, here, and here.

• Rents In Jersey City, Hoboken Highest In Country. But Are They Legal?
• No, Your Landlord Can't Evict You Just Because The Building Was Sold
• Rivington Rent Hikes Reduced; Hoboken Says They're An 'Injustice'
• AvalonBay Will Fight Hoboken Rent Control Determination In October

Last year, a national investigation indicated that several groups of landlords were raising rents at the same time based on computer software, giving tenants few options in their area. Read the report in ProPublica.

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