New Jersey Town Can’t Restrict Housing Ownership by Age
New court ruling opens homeownership for senior housing to the under 55.
According to the New Jersey Monitor, New Jersey municipalities cannot restrict housing ownership by age, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The three-judge panel found a Berkeley Township ordinance that bars individuals under the age of 55 from owning homes at certain senior housing communities runs afoul of discrimination protections in the federal Fair Housing Act and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination.
“By setting a minimum age for property ownership in retirement communities, the ordinance was discriminatory, and the restriction did not fall within the limited housing for older persons exemption,” Appellate Division Judge Greta Gooden Brown wrote for the court.
Though federal law gives local governments the ability to restrict housing to elderly residents, those restrictions can only be placed on housing occupancy, not ownership, the court found.