Free New Jersey Commercial Lease Agreement Template

A New Jersey commercial lease agreement rents non-residential property — a storefront, an office, a warehouse, a restaurant space — to a tenant who will trade from it. New Jersey’s Anti-Eviction Act protections sit in N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1 and reach premises leased for residential purposes.

The commercial route is § 2A:18-53, which opens by excepting the residential lessees and tenants that section covers. It reaches any lessee or tenant at will or at sufferance, or for part of a year, or for one or more years, of any houses, buildings, lands, or tenements — along with their assigns, undertenants, and legal representatives.

Removal runs through the Superior Court, Law Division, Special Civil Part, on the grounds § 2A:18-53 lists.

Holding Over and Unpaid Rent

Subsection a covers a tenant who holds over and continues in possession of all or part of the demised premises after the term expires, once the landlord or the landlord’s agent has made demand and given written notice for delivery of possession.

Service is prescribed. The notice goes either personally to the tenant or person in possession, or by leaving a copy at their usual place of abode with a member of the family above the age of 14.

Subsection b is shorter than any other in the section: where the person holds over after a default in the payment of rent, pursuant to the agreement under which the premises are held. No notice period is attached to it.

The Re-Entry Requirement

Subsection c(4) is the one to draft for. It reaches a tenant who commits any breach or violation of the covenants or agreements in the lease — but only where a right of re-entry is reserved in the lease for a violation of those covenants.

Three days, on the subsection c grounds. Where a tenant falls within subsection c and holds over, the landlord must have caused a written notice of the termination of the tenancy to be served, together with a demand that the tenant remove from the premises within three days from service of that notice.

The notice has to specify the cause of the termination. Service follows the same rule as subsection a: personally on the tenant or the person in possession, or by leaving a copy at their usual place of abode with a family member over 14.

Subsection c also covers conduct grounds — being so disorderly as to destroy the peace and quiet of the landlord or other tenants or occupants, wilfully destroying, damaging, or injuring the premises, and constantly violating the landlord’s rules and regulations where those rules were accepted in writing by the tenant or made part of the lease.

1. Agree the rent, the escalation basis, the term, and how taxes, insurance, and repairs are shared.
2. Reserve a right of re-entry for breach of the lease covenants, since § 2A:18-53(c)(4) depends on it.
3. Attach any rules and regulations to the lease, or have the tenant accept them in writing.
4. Draft the default clause so a termination notice can specify the cause precisely.
5. Execute the lease and record where notices are to be served on each party.

Section 2A:18-53 sets the removal grounds; a New Jersey commercial lease agreement supplies the rest:

• Legal names of landlord and tenant, and the entity behind each signature.
• A description of the demised premises and any shared areas.
• Rent, the due date, and the basis for increases.
• The term and its expiry, plus renewal and holdover terms.
• A reserved right of re-entry tied to the lease covenants.
• Rules and regulations, accepted in writing or made part of the lease.
• Allocation of taxes, insurance, and utilities, and consent for assignment or subletting.