6 Heat Rules New Jersey Landlords Have to Follow All Winter

Rent in a larger New Jersey building, and your landlord can’t leave you at 66 degrees at noon.

State rules spell out how warm your home has to stay, and knowing them can help you speak up.

Here are the heat rules New Jersey landlords have to follow all winter.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Heat rules and complaint procedures are subject to change, so confirm the current requirements with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.

1. Heat Through May 15

Heating season for a landlord in a multiple dwelling runs from October 1 through May 15 of the following year.

Your unit’s required heat used to end May 1.

A 2023 rule change added two weeks of required heat.

New Jersey 211’s no-heat page still lists May 1.

Don’t accept the old date.

2. 68 Degrees by Day and 65 at Night

A landlord has to keep every unit at least 68 degrees from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

From 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., the minimum drops to 65 degrees.

Those numbers are minimums, so a living room stuck at 66 degrees at noon falls short.

If your bedroom reads 63 degrees at 2 a.m., your landlord may have fallen below the code.

3. Every Habitable Room

A landlord’s heating system has to keep every habitable room in your unit at those minimums, not just the room with the thermostat.

Your thermostat isn’t the test.

The code’s heating standard takes its reading at the coldest part of a space you regularly use, at least one foot from any surface.

If a system can’t keep up, the state’s Bureau of Housing Inspection can order the owner to increase its capacity or add insulation.

4. Fuel and a Working System

A landlord has to supply the fuel or energy that heat takes, even when the lease says otherwise.

A lease clause that moves the heating bill for your unit onto you doesn’t override the code.

The exception?

You can agree in writing to heat your unit yourself.

That works only when the unit has heating equipment that serves no one else, with the heat source computed and billed separately.

Either way, the owner has to keep the heating equipment in good operating condition at all times.

5. Fixed Space Heaters

The heat rules include a separate section on space heaters.

When a building heats with space heaters, the code says they have to be permanently affixed, so you can't pick one up and move it.

Each heater has to vent its combustion products outdoors, unless the appliance is approved for unvented use under the state's construction code.

Electric and gas models are allowed when they meet Underwriters Laboratories standards.

If the temperature in your unit varies by more than five degrees from room to room, the code says the landlord has to install more heaters.

6. Yearly System Inspections

The code requires an annual inspection of the heating system in a multiple dwelling.

That inspection confirms the system still meets the maintenance standard from when it went in, finds hazards, and checks that it can still reach the required temperatures.

The state's Bureau of Housing Inspection also inspects these buildings on a five-year cycle, so the yearly heat check isn't the only one.

If you ask your landlord when the heating system was last inspected, you're asking about a code requirement.

Windows Left Open

Your landlord's heat duty has a limit, and open windows are part of it.

The code says the owner isn't responsible for heat lost when occupants leave windows or doors open to the outdoors.

If your living room dips because a window stays cracked, that dip isn't the landlord's responsibility under the code.

Check the window first.

Hot Pipes and Relief Valves

The heat rules cover your safety as well as your comfort.

Burn protection is included.

Heating risers, ducts, and hot water lines have to be insulated or guarded, so accidental contact doesn't burn you.

A pressure relief valve on a heating unit has to drain through a pipe.

That pipe has to discharge toward the floor, ending no more than 20 inches above it, or follow the state plumbing code.

Hot Water After May 15

Hot water follows a separate rule from heating season because the code requires it at all times.

Your landlord's hot water system has to deliver water at a minimum of 120 degrees at the outlets.

It has to work even when your heating system is off.

May 16 changes nothing.

Where to Report No Heat

A heat complaint in a multiple dwelling can go to more than one office.

Your municipality's local health agency is the office the state's habitability bulletin names for a lack of heat.