JACKSON, N.J. – At a town hall roundtable this week, Jackson Township leaders openly acknowledged this week that while residents are demanding tougher enforcement against illegal rentals and overcrowded housing, many of the problems fueling neighborhood tension are beyond the township’s legal reach.
Jackson has recently launched it new Bureau of Rental Housing department, but now, many are beginning to feel like it’s nothing more than an election year gimmick that won’t change anything.
Council President Mordechai Burnstein said the township is continuing to explore more legal options, but backed by code enforcement supervisor Andrew Cheney and Township Attorney Gregory P. McGuckin, their hands are tied on several fronts by state and federal laws.
At a two-hour public roundtable on rental enforcement, Mayor Jennifer L. Kuhn, Council President Burnstein Township Attorney Gregory McGuckin, and Code Enforcement Director Andrew Cheney faced a meeting room of residents pressing for action against homes owned by LLCs, multiple-family occupancies, and homes suspected of unsafe living conditions.
“There are limits to what local government can do. We have to operate within the law, and the law right now doesn’t give us the tools to solve everything.”
-Council President Mordechai Burnstein
Burnstein opened the meeting by setting a frank tone. “We get hundreds of complaints from people saying there are illegal rentals in their neighborhoods,” he said. “But once you start talking to code enforcement and our attorney, you realize a lot of what people think is illegal simply isn’t under the law.”
That distinction — between what’s frustrating and what’s actually unlawful — guided most of the night’s conversation.
LLCs Renting Single Family Homes to Multiple Families?
One of the most contentious issues of the night was the reality many residents are facing as LLCs are turning single family homes in their neighborhood into multifamily apartments housing many different families, with one report claiming 18 people, from different families living in one single family ranch home.
McGuckin repeatedly told attendees that Jackson’s power to regulate who lives in a home is sharply limited by state law and court rulings.
“By law, anyone who wants to live together in a residential structure has a legal right to do so,” McGuckin said. “They do not have to be family members, and towns can’t prohibit unrelated people from sharing a house. Every time a municipality has tried that, the courts have struck it down.”
He explained that under existing law, a group of unrelated individuals can share a rental home — even several families — as long as they have shared access to the kitchen, bathrooms, and main living areas.
“You can have three families paying rent together,” he said. “That’s not illegal. It only becomes illegal when one family starts locking bedroom doors and renting separate spaces. Then it becomes a rooming house, which is regulated by the state, not the township.”
Homes being used as rooming houses?
Even as a rooming house, the township’s hands are tied and options limited when it comes to proving it.
That explanation frustrated many residents who described houses on their streets with rotating tenants and multiple families moving in and out. McGuckin and Cheney both said that even if residents believe a home is being misused, inspectors can’t enter without permission or a clear violation visible from outside.
“People have the right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment,” Cheney said. “We can’t just go in because a neighbor calls and says there are too many cars in the driveway or too many kids playing in the yard.” Cheney said inspectors can try to contact the owner and request a voluntary inspection, but they can’t legally obtain a search warrant for a suspected rental violation.
“There’s no such thing as a rental warrant,” he said. “Unless we can see something dangerous or illegal from the street — like construction without permits — our hands are tied.”
Children registered in Jackson Schools, but not attending?
Another topic was the issue of enrollment and cost to taxapayers for dozens of children attending public school, living in the same house. Even worse, the prospect that the school district has stopped providing student information to the township for verification of residence.
That means students who enrolled at the schools from a single address, could have moved, and there’s no way for anyone to see if they are still fraudulently attending the Jackson School District.
By one estimate, ten children living in a home is costing Jackson taxapyers $250,000 per year, based on Council Vice President Giuseppe Palmeri’s estimate that it costs $25,000 per student. That assumes an average cost, not factoring the cost for ESL (English as a Second Language) instruction and special education needs and costs.
The issue of children attending Jackson schools while living in crowded or temporary homes also drew heated debate.
School District Opts Out of Cooperation
Palmeri questioned whether the district could report suspicious addresses to code enforcement, noting some houses have registered more than a dozen students. McGuckin replied that the township cannot intervene.
“That’s not something we can enforce,” he said. “Residency for school enrollment is governed by state education law. The Board of Education has its own attorney and its own procedures. We have no authority to regulate who goes to school here.”
“It’s important that we talk about the number of individuals and not the number of students because any challenges to these ordinances, if the ordinance is based upon students, we are putting ourselves in legal jeopardy,” McGuckin said. “As to be the number of people in a building, not not the students. The fact that there are too many students in the schools. We have no legal authority to zone or regulate based upon the number of students that may come in. That’s age discrimination.”
McGuckin said the township would be walking a fine line, putting itself in danger of multiple civil rights lawsuits.
We tried.
Code officials said that in the past, the school district had asked code enforcement to verify addresses of families suspected of living outside the district, but the district’s attorney stopped the practice after warning it could lead to lawsuits over privacy violations.
“We tried to help,” Cheney said, “but we were told legally we couldn’t. The schools were told they’d get sued if they let us investigate.”
The conversation frequently turned to LLCs buying single-family homes and using them as rental properties — a pattern many residents say has destabilized neighborhoods.
LLCs Are People Too
But McGuckin said the township’s ability to treat corporate owners differently is virtually nonexistent.
“You cannot hold LLCs to a higher standard than private owners,” he said. “That’s an equal protection violation under the Constitution. Even if we all agree it’s a problem, the law doesn’t allow us to make separate rules for them.”
Some residents demanded that the township report suspected mortgage fraud or owner-occupied misrepresentations to banks or federal authorities. McGuckin dismissed that as impractical.
No jurisdiction over federal laws
“That would be a federal crime, and the township has no authority to enforce federal law,” he said. “Even when those cases are reported, the FBI and the banks have no interest in pursuing them as long as the mortgage payments are being made. It’s simply not something we can police.”
Even proposed new measures have limits, the township admitted.
Mayor Kun highlighted the creation of a new housing bureau, scheduled to begin operations this month, that will conduct annual safety inspections on all registered rental properties.
The bureau, funded by a $100 annual landlord fee, is designed to identify illegal conversions, blocked exits, and fire hazards that code enforcement can’t currently inspect.
New Bureau won’t completely fix the problem
Still, Cheney admitted the new bureau won’t fix every issue. “If people refuse entry, we still can’t go in,” he said. “The inspection is only for registered rentals. If a landlord never registers, we might never know about it unless someone reports it.”
Officials also acknowledged that state law prevents Jackson from issuing daily fines for repeat offenders.
“We tried to pass an ordinance to hit violators every day until they complied,” McGuckin said. “But the municipal courts ruled we can only fine once every 30 days for the same offense. That’s state law. We can’t change it.”
Council members and residents both voiced frustration at that limitation.
Tenant registration?
Another resident questioned why Jackson couldn’t force families to register extended houseguests or relatives staying for months at a time.
McGuckin again said no.
“You can’t make people register family members,” he said. “People have the right to live with relatives or friends without government interference. That’s long-established law.”
Others pressed for tighter rules on home occupancy, citing homes where 15 to 20 people live together. Cheney said the township ordinance currently allows one occupant per 50 square feet of space — a standard that makes enforcement difficult. “That’s only a five-by-ten room per person,” he said. “It’s small, but that’s what the ordinance says.” McGuckin said the township may review whether it can legally increase that requirement, but warned it could face challenges similar to past zoning disputes.
New Jersey law stacked against a solution
Residents continued to demand more aggressive action, including publicizing court cases against landlords, imposing higher fines, and forcing unregistered properties to be inspected. But throughout the meeting, township leaders emphasized that many perceived problems are either legally protected or regulated at higher levels of government.
“We can’t enforce federal law, we can’t enforce school law, and we can’t regulate how people share a house,” McGuckin said. “Our power is limited to safety and building codes.”
Even efforts to collaborate with state agencies have produced little traction.
State no Help
“We’ve had cases where people were living in basements and garages,” Cheney said. “We notify the state rooming house bureau when we find that, but most of the time, by the time anyone responds, the situation’s already changed.”
Burnstein closed the meeting by urging patience and realism. “Everyone here wants the same thing — safe neighborhoods and responsible landlords,” he said. “But there are limits to what local government can do. We have to operate within the law, and the law right now doesn’t give us the tools to solve everything.”
As the meeting ended, residents applauded some of the planned reforms but left still uneasy about the township’s limited authority. One man summed up the frustration from the back of the room: “If the town can’t fix it, and the state won’t fix it, who will?”