Do not require pre-offer applications that inquire about criminal records
N.J. Stat. Ann. § 46:8-55(a)(1)State law
A housing provider may not require an applicant to complete an application that includes criminal-record inquiries before making a conditional offer, except for the specified methamphetamine-related conviction and lifetime sex-offender registration inquiries.
Answers the question “What can they check about me?”
The source
… through an indictment, information, complaint, or other formal charge. “Rental dwelling unit” means a dwelling unit offered for rent by a housing provider for residential purposes, other than a dwelling unit in an owner-occupied premises of not more than four dwelling units. C.46:8-55 Application process. 4. a. (1) A housing provider shall not require an applicant to complete any housing application that includes any inquiries regarding an applicant’s criminal record prior to the provision of a conditional offer, except that a housing provider may consider whether an applicant has ever been convicted of drug-related criminal activity for the manufacture or production of methamphetamine on the premises of federally assisted housing, and whether the applicant is subject to a lifetime registration requirement under a State sex…
- Official law
- Open the official source
- Document
- D065, retrieved Oct 1, 2026
- Dates
- In force since Jan 1, 2022
- Status on Oct 1, 2026
- In force
What it depends on
- Covers
- Conditions not extracted yet.
- Exemptions
- Owner-occupied premises with no more than four dwelling units are outside the act's definition of rental dwelling unit.
- What you can do next
- Read the law at its official source
Audit trail
The model reads the law; code decides who it covers. The line between them stays visible.
Extracted by the model
What the model read from the source text, checked by code (the quote must appear word for word).
- Category
- Screening
- Requirement
- A housing provider may not require an applicant to complete an application that includes criminal-record inquiries before making a conditional offer, except for the specified methamphetamine-related conviction and lifetime sex-offender registration inquiries.
- Key value
- none
- Effect
- protection_or_duty
- Quote found in source
- yes
- Confidence
- 90%
reasoning boundary
Decided by code
Deterministic: same rules, facts and date give the same answer.
- Jurisdiction: listed only for addresses whose state or legal city is NJ.
- Dates: in force from 2022-01-01; before that, not yet in force.
- Coverage: tested against whether the owner lives in the building, the number of units; a missing fact gives "unknown", never a guess.
As of Oct 1, 2026Engine run
Sources retrieved Oct 1, 2026.
Which buildings it reaches
All 140 sample addresses in New Jersey on Oct 1, 2026.
- 139 applies
- 1 unknown
Every dot is the rule engine’s result for that address. The larger dots are the example addresses listed below.
Decided by code for the example addresses
On Oct 1, 2026. Rules that don’t apply are left out.
- 327 Jackson St, Hoboken: Applies. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 46:8-55(a)(1) covers this address: 20 units (NJ class 4C, building description "5B-20U-H").