Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey

this matter is in NJ. I am a landlord that rented an illegal apartment to a tenant. at the time the tenant needed someplace to live and i charged cheap rent to allow the tenants to live there thinking i was doing the right thing in terms of helping a person with some sort of afforable housing. worse mistake of my life.
So long story short, things started getting bad beween us and the tenant. the tenant threatened to leave the gas on to burn down the house. i filed an action to evict the tenant. i did not have a lawyer.
i go to court and the tenant comes with a lawyer. the court told me that my apartment is illegal and i was ordered to pay 6 months of relocation expenses. meanwhile my tenant has not paid me rent (and continues to not pay essentially living for free.)
the total amount owed is $6,800. the order was served and 20 days of lapsed for me to file a motion for reconsideration.
meanwhile, the city keeps sending their inspectors to inspect the apartment. everytime they come they issue me a set of tickets totaling 1,500. the tenant has refused to make any arrangements with me in terms of a payment plan. i offered 4k with the remainder in two payments. she says no.
the inspector says my apartment isnt safe, its a fire hazard, etc. if its considered so safe why does the court and the city allow her to remain there until i pay the relocation expenes in full? long story short i cannot afford 6,800 + the costs for the tickets. i tried to discuss the matter with the tenant but she filed a harassment charge. i did not get a court date for it yet.
i tried discussing it with the inspector but he does not care and keeps coming to give me more tickets. they keep her there until i pay...but they give me more tickets. to make matters worse, the job is extremely slow.
so i am not sure if i can fle any motion for a judge to review my circumstances. i am thinking of telling the landlord tenant judge that i have most of the money but not all of it...and to ask him to put in an order for the tenant to accept my first payment and leave...with the remainder of it forthcoming in payments to the tenant.
any help would be appreciated. thank you.

Asked on 6/30/15, 11:39 pm

Bruce Gudin Ehrlich, Petriello, Gudin & Plaza Esqs.

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The law will not allow a warrant of removal to issue in an eviction case until the relocation assistance payment by you is made

Answered on 7/01/15, 1:08 pm

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