Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey

I have rented the same 3-bedroom house - from the same landlord - for nearly 20 years... that's right- 20 years! I am an excellent tenant!

I always thought my landlord was a great guy too.... until it came time to notify him that after nearly 20 years we were ready to move on and move out.

I also receive rental assistance which pays approximately 75% of my monthly rent. However, this issue really isn't a rental assistance issue; it's a greedy (P.O'ed) landlord issue-

On our original lease agreement, one of the utilities checked off as TENANT'S RESPONSIBILITY is "sewer", among the usual utilities like water; electric; gas, etc. But the landlord never notified the sewerage authority in my town to switch this bill into MY (the tenant's) name, and didn't feel it was that big a deal to do it.

Year after year, with every lease renewal the check mark remained in the "sewer" box, but the landlord continued to receive the quarterly bill at his residence (about 15 miles away in another town), and pay the bill himself each time. He knew money was tight for us, and supposedly liked us as tenants, so didn't really see the need to switch it over. He would "remind me" every once in a while how he pays the sewer bill, (when he really didn't 'have to, you know') and I would thank him profusely and say how much I appreciated that, etc etc...

Now fast forward NINETEEN years later-- We are thinking about moving out; I told my landlord several months ago that we were not going to renew our lease this coming spring. I told him face to face that we had started hunting for a new rental, and had already seen several we were interested in.

In the beginning of December I sent him his official, legally required 30-day notice (certified mail) that we were moving out as of January 31st, 2010. That was much more than 30 days notice but I wanted to be as considerate as possible, plus I thought rental assistance paperwork would be best started as soon as possible.

Today I got a call from my case worker at Rental Assistance telling me that my landlord is not ready to "sign off" on his contract with them, until I pay him for sewerage services that was "the tenant's responsibility" according to the original lease. The landlord is now asking for more than $3,000!!

Here's the deal, I don't believe the landlord has a single, spindly, legal leg to stand on, (he never switched the bill into my name - a request that MUST be made to the sewage authority ONLY by the home owner, not the tenant, and must be done IN WRITING. And the sewerage authority is sending me a letter stating this procedure) and the landlord knows that.

We spoke about it many times over the years and verbally he acknowledged he was paying this bill as a "favor" to me, etc.

Because he's choosing this time now to be a real nudge, he CAN screw up my timing with Rental Assistance and the NEW contract they will be setting up with my NEW landlord! That is exactly what he's trying to do.

They can not work up a new contract with my new landlord until the old contract is signed off on and scheduled for cancellation. Well, He won't sign off because he wants $3000 + for the sewer bill! And according to rental assistance, they can only go by what is said on the original lease (and every lease renewal thereafter), so yes, it says sewer is to be the responsibility of the tenant...

But the landlord is failing to tell them that HE chose NOT to put that bill in my name and never EXPECTED me to pay it at all. I can not pay a bill I never get, now can I! And why did HE continue paying them if I was supposed to be for all those years? Why didn't he just switch the bill over to my name, and address?

I have already given my NEW landlord 2 security deposits (quite a large sum of borrowed money!) to hold that house for me until rental assistance paperwork was done. But my old landlord can throw his monkey wrench into the deal and really screw that up for me! How can he get away with this??

CAN he get away with this??

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