It's in the hands of our Property Manager, now. I work full time Monday-Friday 8:30-5 and, to be honest, the amount of time it would take for me to do MORE research, make MORE phone calls, etc. is so not worth it. Like I said, the 'fee' is nominal, the communication was unclear, and I have absolutely no interest in playing Norma Rae with Jersey City. :)

Working in nonprofit, Federal and NYC-funded programming - I'm not at all surprised that the letter he received was not crafted in detail, and a call need to occur for clarification.

There's no use fighting JCity Hall, and the fee is nominal. Yes, the communication is incredibly unclear as well as the forms (the Director had to walk me through what questions were relevant and needed to be answered- and my daily job function involves writing policies and procedures!). But like I said, I get government.

Thanks much for your help, though. I see from the other thread that it's not just our condo association being targeted.

Hmmmm. I'd call the Resident's Response Center and ask them about this. Check with Candice Osborne's office, too. Her ward has the densest concentration of condos. Can they justify the $10/unit annual fee and why hasn't this been communicated across the city? They should already have a database of all condo owners. It's called the property tax rolls. Have a close look at your neighbor's letter. Does it mention this project, or is the letter citing the landlord registration ordinance?

EDIT: I'm just not buying what the Housing Department is telling you. Something stinks. You can't threaten someone with a fine and possible imprisonment (as mentioned in your initial post) without a specific ordinance/law authorizing that. And I haven't heard of any new post-Sandy ordinances or laws authorizing the Housing Department to create a database of condo owners and collect a fee to do so - especially when all that info is already available online via the tax collector.

I called back and spoke to the Director of the Dept. All condo associations are now required to complete this information and send the fee. It's actually in response to Hurricane Sandy - the City wants to have a database of all condo owners - as they couldn't get a hold of many of them during and after the storm. This falls on the condo associations unfortunately.

When I asked why the $10 per unit fee, he said it's because this project is expensive. Um ok.

I get the database, (I'm in public health administration in NYC)... but not in agreement with the fee.

Definitely have the property manager look into it, or better yet an attorney if your condo association has one. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the employee you spoke to completely misunderstands the law.

I remember a copy of the city ordinance was attached to the form, and I read it carefully. The law is specific in requiring any owner of more than 5 units in a single building to register and pay the $10/unit fee. If no one in your building owns more than 5 units, I don't see why anyone should be required to register let alone pay a fee. It shouldn't be a condo association matter either - it should be the responsibility of any owner who falls under the requirement. I haven't heard of any condo building paying this fee. I can't imagine any of the associations of huge buildings like Crystal Point or 77 Hudson ponying up $10/unit annually - that adds up quickly.

Thanks for the reply. I called the JC Dept. of Housing this am about the letter and was told that our condo association has to pay the $10 per unit - regardless of if the unit is owner-occupied or not.

It's not so much the $ issue for me, as it will come out of our fund, but the principal - as well as the the ordinance that I don't understand.

And only one owner in our building received the notice (ever!) - his unit happens to be the first unit - so I assume the City just looked up the first unit in our building, and addressed it to him. I was offered the opportunity to call back and speak with the Director of the Department, but I'm going to ask our Property Manager to.

The city introduced this a couple years ago. I remember cynically thinking at the time that it was a Healy way to generate some revenue without actually raising taxes going into his re-election bid. It was also a way for them to create a database, I think, to make sure landlords were following rent control laws as well as score political points with renters.

I remember getting that notice in the mail in early 2013. The city had done a mass mailing of the form to every homeowner. Everyone I knew who received it decided to ignore it (None of my JC friends rent out more than one condo anyway). I called the housing department to clarify what was going on. Since I didn't own 5 units in my building, the law didn't apply to me. The guy on the phone asked me to do them a "favor" by filling out the form and checking boxes saying I was exempt. I ignored that request, because I got the feeling that doing so would simply put my name in some file/database with the onus falling on me every year to prove to these idiots that I didn't own 5 units in my building. Sounds to me like your neighbor may have fallen into such a Kafkaesque trap.

Has anyone else received a (threatening FINAL NOTICE) notification from City of JC Dept. of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce about 'registering' property with them, and paying an annual fee of $10 per unit (if you have over 5 condos in the building)?

An owner in our building received the letter and it stated that failure to register within 14 days will result in a $1250 fine and or imprisonment (well not more than 90 days luckily)...

It seems like Jersey City is looking for ways to introduce something new (I've owned my unit for 11 years and we never saw this before) to generate some revenue.

If anyone has insight, please chime in. Thanks.

griffin...

Don?t do anything until you get more information. I got my link?s and comments mixed up in my first post. So here is where the two come from. (sorry)


** ***

Office of the City Clerk

http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/city_clerk.aspx

Landlord Registration

By law, every landlord of a dwelling, except owner-occupied premises with not more than two (2) rental units, must file with the Clerk a Landlord Registration Form.


** *********

Division of Tenant Landlord Relations

http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/hedc.aspx?id=1182

Landlord Registration Statement


.

PS - funny I am a JC landlord and I never heard about the registration FORM until I read about it here on JCList.

Sorry, I have the dumbest question.

What's the difference between Landlord Registration Form
and Landlord Registration Statement Form?

Landlord Registration Form

vs
Landlord Registration Statement Form

I've filled out one but not the other, just wanted to make sure here...

Both for Jersey City - quite different.

.

That landlord registration form is here?

Division of Tenant Landlord Relations

http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/hedc.aspx?id=1182



Landlord Registration

By law, every landlord of a dwelling, except owner-occupied premises with not more than two (2) rental units, must file with the Clerk a Landlord Registration Form.




.

Quote:
You are so right, some LL think they are not in business but they are as long as they are generating revenue. They feel as though they are the lord of the land. Some regard their tenants as peons that can't afford a effen house and are at the mercy of the owner. With ownership comes responsibility.

It's not a political move as the landlord registration has been part of the municipal code for a very long time.

If you had to take your tenant to court for non-payment, you wouldn't be able to evict them without the registration unless you are the landlord of an owner occupied two or three family house (the only exemption to the registration in JC).

It's always fun to see the "special snowflake" landlords who think the law doesn't apply to them get their cases rescheduled. The court tells you to bring the registration with you but every time I go, there are always landlords who feel the registration act doesn't apply to them.

The fee is what, $10? Register and be done with it.

Quote:

Good advice. thanks!

Quote:

I would not ignore it, It takes 10 min.

By law, every landlord of a dwelling, except owner-occupied
premises with not more than two (2) rental units, must file
with the clerk of the municipality in which the residential
property is situated, or with the Bureau of Housing Inspection
in the Department of Community Affairs, a certificate of
registration.

Did it come in registered mail? Maybe you can just ignore it?

Quote:

I can't answer for the entire city but Southern Slope of GV about 3%. Most of the Landlords here live in the burbs or Manhattan and can care less about JC politics.

What is the percentage of J.C. landlords that actually vote in Jersey City ?

It was mailed to everyone in the city, I called to make sure I wasn't mistakenly listed in their records as a landlord. I'm taking the letter literally and ignoring the form since I don't own a rental property of 5+ units. The timing is suspicious, coming just before an election. Looking carefully at the form and the ordinance itself, it strikes me as an attempt to pander to low-income renters because the registration looks like an attempt to capture rental units under the yoke of rent-control laws. The form even has a section where landlords have to list and justify rent increases. I'm hoping landlords on this forum like Brewster can shed some light on this. Also have landlords ever been required to pay a registration fee before? It smells like a creative Healy shakedown.

It seems that these multi-dwelling condos are becoming rentals turning them into apartment houses with absentee landlords. Wht the city is trying to do is registrer potential landlords as an insurance incase the owner needs to be contacted for liability purposes. When you own property and rent it out you are generating revenue which is a taxable business.

I received the same form but I've never rented my place.

I own a 1 bedroom condo in a downtown hi-rise (Portofino). Last June I rented my unit out and a few days ago I got a letter from JC saying I have to register as a landlord of a multi-unit dwelling.

It's not like I own the building and have 250 units on my rent roll. It's only my unit which is not rent controlled.

Anyone know if I still have to return the form? I'm going to call the JC office, but I would appreciate your opinions on this as well.

thanks!!