Identical bills from Senator Britnee Timberlake and Assemblyman Kenyatta Stewart would let tenants pushed out by private redevelopment return to the new building first, at rent capped 10 percent above their prior lease, with every notice tied to the completion date.
State Senator Britnee Timberlake (D, 34th District) and Assemblyman Kenyatta Stewart (D, 35th District) introduced bills A5581 and S4749 on October 5. Under the bills, a tenant with a current lease displaced from an apartment building by a private developer's demolition for a redevelopment project would get a right of first refusal on a comparable unit in the new building, the first chance to lease before the public, with rent capped at 10 percent above the prior lease.
S4749 sits in the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee and A5581 in the Assembly Housing Committee, with no hearing listed on either bill's official page as of October 7. The Senate bill lists Timberlake as its sole sponsor on the official page, and the Assembly bill's introduced text names Stewart alone; the official pages cross-list the bills as identical. Stewart's 35th District includes Paterson, where TAPinto Paterson reported the bill on October 7. The bills would add a new section to Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes and regulate private developers directly, alongside separate relocation rules for government action and municipal redevelopment.
The bills would give qualifying tenants first refusal on a unit in the new building
A private developer that tears down a multiple dwelling to make way for a redevelopment project would owe each displaced tenant first crack at a comparable dwelling unit in the new building before any unit goes to the public. The tenant's rent would start at no more than 10 percent above the rent charged under the lease in effect at the time of displacement.
The bills define a "displaced residential tenant" as someone holding a current lease when the unit must be vacated. The test turns entirely on lease status at that moment. A tenant whose lease has lapsed by then sits outside the bills, and the text adds no other qualification.
A tenant who accepts the offer carries a rent limit into renewals. Renewal increases could not exceed the limits of the rent-control ordinance in the municipality where the building sits.
"Redevelopment should not come at the cost of displacing the very residents who helped make a community worth investing in. When a private developer tears down someone's home to build a new apartment building, that tenant should have a meaningful opportunity to come back and remain part of the community they called home," Timberlake said in an October 6 announcement published by Insider NJ. "This bill gives displaced tenants a fair shot at returning to a comparable home in the newly developed building at a reasonable rent, while providing advance notice and protections against unreasonable rent increases. We can support new housing and investment while also recognizing that longtime residents deserve a place in the future of their own neighborhoods. That is what responsible redevelopment looks like." "We should be able to welcome new development without telling existing residents they no longer have a place in the future of their own neighborhood," Stewart said in the announcement.
All three notices would anchor to the new building's completion date
Ninety days before the building's expected finish date, the developer would owe each displaced tenant written notice. The notice of the right of first refusal and the lease offer itself would have to reach the tenant no later than 60 days before completion, by certified mail or a format the tenant agreed to. The tenant would then have at least 30 days after the offer arrives to take it or turn it down, and failing to respond in time could count as a declined offer. The clock starts when the offer arrives, not when the developer sends it. Because the notices run off completion, a tenant displaced at demolition could wait out the construction period with no required notice until the 90-day mark.
The bills would take effect immediately and contain no transition language. A project already underway at enactment would get no grace period on the face of the text. The Office of Legislative Services had certified neither bill for a fiscal note as of October 7, the official pages show.
Enforcement would run through the courts
A displaced tenant could seek money damages or a court order in the Superior Court. Separately, a developer found in violation would owe a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation under the Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999, P.L. 1999, c. 274. The fine would flow to the municipal treasury, not to the tenant. It would come on top of anything a court awards.
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs runs a relocation assistance program for tenants displaced by government action, including code enforcement and acquisition for public use, under the Relocation Assistance Law of 1967. The same framework covers tenants displaced by municipal action: the municipality files a relocation assistance plan with the department for review. The Local Redevelopment and Housing Law requires municipal redevelopment plans to provide for the "temporary and permanent relocation" of residents and one-for-one replacement of affordable units slated for removal. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1g, a municipality may guarantee tenants displaced from illegal apartments relocation assistance worth six months of rent, paid by the owner-landlord. Under the same provisions, no eviction warrant can issue on grounds of code enforcement, demolition or government redevelopment until relocation assistance obligations are met. The six-months payment exists only where a municipality has enacted the ordinance, and the bills include no relocation payment of their own.
State law already defines "redevelopment project"
The bills never define "redevelopment project." State law defines the term in the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law as "any work or undertaking pursuant to a redevelopment plan" (N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-3), a document a municipality adopts by ordinance. The trigger is a private demolition in service of a redevelopment project, with no mention of any municipal plan. Neither bill says the demolition must occur within a municipality-designated redevelopment area.
Assemblywoman Stewart described the bills’ goals in the October 6 announcement: "This legislation strikes an important balance: it allows communities to grow and new housing to be built, while giving displaced tenants a fair opportunity to return to their homes and remain part of the communities they helped build."
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Sources
• New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, "Local Redevelopment and Housing Law" (current through May 15, 2026)
• New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, "New Jersey Eviction Law N.J.S.A. 2A:18-53 Through 2A:18-84" (accessed October 7, 2026)
• New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, "Relocation Assistance Information" (accessed October 7, 2026)
• New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, "Truth in Renting" (accessed October 7, 2026)
• New Jersey Division of Elections, "Municipalities Sorted By Legislative District" (accessed October 7, 2026)
• New Jersey Legislature, Bill No. A5581, "An Act requiring the right of first refusal for displaced residential tenants in certain circumstances," introduced text and official action history (October 5, 2026)
• New Jersey Legislature, Bill No. S4749, "An Act requiring the right of first refusal for displaced residential tenants in certain circumstances," introduced text, official action history and Office of Legislative Services fiscal note status (October 5, 2026; accessed October 7, 2026)
• New Jersey Statutes Annotated, N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1g, h, relocation of displaced tenants (retrievable via the New Jersey Legislature statute service)
• New Jersey Statutes Annotated, N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-3, "Redevelopment project" definition (retrievable via the New Jersey Legislature statute service)
• New Jersey Statutes Annotated, N.J.S.A. 52:31B-1 et seq., Relocation Assistance Law of 1967 (retrievable via the New Jersey Legislature statute service)
• TAPinto Paterson, "Stewart Bill Would Give Paterson Tenants Displaced by Redevelopment a Right to Return" (October 7, 2026)
• Senator Britnee Timberlake and Assemblyman Kenyatta Stewart, sponsor statements in "Timberlake, Stewart Introduce Legislation to Protect Tenants Displaced by Redevelopment," Insider NJ (October 6, 2026)