Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey

Re: Tenant has horrible credit

why are you renting to a tenant you do not want? why are you trying to do something that will or might violate the law?

please go see a lawyer, and get some advice.

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Re: Tenant has horrible credit

My experience is that tenants with bad credit are bad news. The law does not permit you to charge what appears to be a security interest by simply giving it another name. Something like that can be done but why would you want to step outside the usual for a tenant who is likely to default. Remember that it takes a while to evict a non-paying tenant and during that time, you are usually losing money.

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm

Re: Tenant has horrible credit

You may not collect anything besides the 1st month's rent in advance on top of the 1 1/2 months security deposit.