NJ tenant law question,being evicted but have no co?

[bercnan72]

I moved in to a rental house 2 years ago in June. We had a verbal agreement to fix up the house to be eventually sold maybe 5 yrs down the line, there were me, my husband, landlord and landlords brother an wife all whitness to this agrreement.we were also issued a paper lease (that doesn't say anything about repairs) we have two years of recipts and documented proof we have been fixing it up. Some are signed by landlord..some are not. We also found out there is no co...1 1/2 after livin here landlord applys for one and gets denied..now he has expected us to make the repairs so he can get the co..but he refuses to deduct from rent an claims we owe a year of rent when we hav recipts of work he wanted us to do that he never deducted. Also he registerd to become a landlord just one month b4 filing for eviction for nonpayment fo rent..to make matters worse I am 9 months pregnant an have 2 children..this landlord is nuts an also listed the house for sale ...still with no co. I am oviously getting a lawyer.but my one of many questions is what the hell?? I mean will his claim hold up in court or he is out of his mind ? Can he even legaly evict us without a certificate of occupancy..an we have been here two yrs without it and he just registered as a landlord 3 weeks b4 evicting us!! Whatever advice on any of this mess would help. Plus any local lawyers names/numbers. Please only new jersey references as that is where I reside an the laws are diff everywhere. Thanks

[rolfe16]

I am not a lawyer but a tenant who was once a realtor. In respect to landlord registartion he needs to serve you with a certificate at the time you move in and has to post it in plain sight with in the property this is covered by NJSA 46:8-27.
with respect to the co they are to be filed for and approved before a tenant take occupancy of the property.
Furhter I would ask what the nature of the eviction is because there are several reasons in NJ that allow a londlord to evict a tenant actually there are 18. All of them require certain notifications before filing a judgement for possesion. For example if the owner changes the lease he must wait til the end of the lease and serve you with a notice to quit. This means he is ending your tenancy. He must give you the time to review the changes and if you do not then he can file for a judgement for possesion of the property but not until 30 days after the notice to quit.
If he plans on residing in the property it take 60 days from the time of notice of quit.
You can search this notice on the internet and there are several websites that will list the reasons for eviction and the timelines in them. Take good notes and gather what ever public records you can and be prepared when you go to court. You will more than likely go through mediation first. Verbal agreements are dificult but enforceable. As far as the witness pool you can request them to be in court but they may be reluctant because other than yourself and husband they are his family. I am in a very similar situation at this very moment that is how I found you question good luck to you and your family