New Jersey A 2589: Establishes certain requirements for personal service contracts.

Bill Text

A2589 

ASSEMBLY, No. 2589 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman CARMEN THERESA MORALES

District 34 (Essex)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Brennan

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes confidentiality of court records of 
landlord-tenant disputes after five years.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative 
Counsel.

�� 

An Act concerning the confidentiality of court records 
of landlord-tenant disputes after five years and supplementing Title 2A of the 
New Jersey Statutes.

���� Be It 
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of 
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� As used in P.L.��� , 
c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

���� �Landlord� means the business 
entity, person, or persons which own, purport to own, or exercise control of a 
residential dwelling, building, project, or mobile home park in which there is 
rented or offered for rent housing or mobile home pad space for living or 
dwelling purposes under either a written or oral lease.

���� �Landlord-tenant court record� 
means any record containing information regarding a landlord-tenant action, and 
any record of the filing of a landlord-tenant action, including but not limited 
to:

���� a.���� any information 
maintained by a court in any form in connection with a case or judicial 
proceeding associated with the landlord-tenant action, including but not 
limited to pleadings, motions, briefs and their respective attachments, 
evidentiary exhibits, indices, calendars, and dockets;

���� b.��� any order, judgment, 
opinion, or decree related to the landlord-tenant action;

���� c.���� any official transcript 
or recording of the landlord-tenant action, in any form;

���� d.��� any information in a 
computerized case management system created or prepared by the court associated 
with the landlord-tenant action; and

���� e.���� any record associated 
with the landlord-tenant action made or maintained by a judicial officer. 

���� �Landlord-tenant action� means 
any action initiated by a landlord, and any action initiated by or on behalf of 
a tenant in response to the landlord�s action, in the Superior Court of New 
Jersey, including the Special Civil part of the Superior Court, to evict or 
otherwise obtain possession of a tenant�s primary residence, or to recover 
unpaid rent.

���� 2.��� A landlord-tenant court 
record shall be made and remain confidential and unavailable to the public 
indefinitely beginning no later than the first day of the sixth year next 
following the date of the filing of the eviction action associated with the 
record, unless a court orders the publication of a landlord-tenant court 
record.� A court shall only permit the continued publication of a 
landlord-tenant court record following this date if the court: (1) determines 
that the publication is necessary to serve the public interest; and (2) to the 
greatest extent feasible, removes all information from the court record that 
could be used to identify the tenant. 

���� 3.��� a.� Any New Jersey 
public entity that maintains a written or automated record or file of 
landlord-tenant court records shall take appropriate actions to ensure that 
those records or files are kept confidential and unavailable to the public 
beginning on the first day of the sixth year next following the date of the 
filing of the landlord-tenant action associated with the record.

���� b.��� This act shall not 
prohibit the courts or other New Jersey public entities from retaining or 
distributing demographic information from landlord-tenant court records for the 
purpose of understanding eviction trends, or for other public purposes, so long 
as personally-identifiable information on tenants involved in landlord-tenant 
actions remains confidential in compliance with this act. 

���� c.���� The Supreme Court of 
New Jersey may adopt rules, and the Administrative Director of the Courts may 
issue directives and guidelines, to implement the purposes of P.L.��� , c.��� 
(C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

���� 4.��� a.� When evaluating a 
prospective tenant, a landlord shall not consider a landlord-tenant action 
beginning on the first day of the sixth year next following the date of the 
filing of the landlord-tenant action associated with the record.

���� b.��� A person, tenant screening service, or other entity, shall not knowingly 
provide court filing information or information contained in a landlord-tenant court record to a landlord or other entity involved 
in the rental of a dwelling unit beginning on the first day of the sixth 
year next following the date of the filing of the landlord-tenant action 
associated with the record. 

���� 5.��� a. Any person who 
violates section 4 of 
P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending 
before the Legislature as this bill) shall, in addition to any other penalty 
provided by law, be l