Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey

The answer to your rooming house question is very fact sensitive and you may get different interpretations by different municipalities. One factor that seems to weigh heavily is whether the living spaces have separate locks. If individual residents have separate, lockable space, most municipalities would say that it is a rooming house. As to a license, each municipality treats the license issue differently. Some are hostile to rooming houses and impose quotas on the number allowed. (This may actually be beyond their power, but they do it anyway.) Consult your local ordinances which are probably online.

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