Rats, no heat, and a water bill: why tenants in five Jersey City buildings stopped paying rent

Tenants at five buildings on Jersey City's west side have declared a rent strike, saying their landlords let conditions rot to the point of rats, holes in the walls, and no on-site superintendent. The strike spans two owners and started spreading this month.

The Jersey City Tenants Union organized the action, first reported by Hudson County View. One tenant at 154 Belmont Ave. said the repairs never come. "They just don't care to fix anything. The kitchen floor is in awful shape," he said. A neighbor who has lived there 40 years described "Rats, mice, holes in the bottom, holes on top, and they still have the nerve to make me pay for water."

Three of the buildings, 429 Bergen Ave. and 150 and 154 Belmont Ave., are allegedly tied to landlord Amir Ben-Yohanon, who holds them through separate LLCs. The other two, 19 and 25 Kensington Ave., are allegedly owned by Optimum Properties, whose tenants are also withholding. Ben-Yohanon did not return a request for comment, and Optimum could not be reached.

What Jersey City rent actually costs

This isn't a cheap market where tenants have little to lose. The typical Jersey City apartment rents for $3,157 a month, up 3.3% over the past year, which puts it among the priciest markets in New Jersey. A one-bedroom runs about $2,250 and a two-bedroom about $2,550.

Set that against the city's median household income of $97,710 and the typical rent eats roughly 39% of it, already past the 30% line economists use to mark a household as rent-burdened. The tenants on Belmont and Bergen are paying real money, some of it toward water bills on top of rent, for buildings they say come with rats and no heat.

Withholding rent is a legal remedy in New Jersey

A rent strike sounds like pure protest, but in New Jersey it rests on settled law. Every residential lease in the state carries an implied warranty of habitability, meaning the landlord has to keep the place safe and livable whether the lease says so or not. The state Supreme Court established in Marini v. Ireland that when a landlord fails to make necessary repairs, tenants can withhold rent, and a judge can reduce or cancel what's owed for the period the home was uninhabitable.

The catch is that withholding isn't the same as skipping payment. Tenants who want the protection generally need to document the conditions, keep the rent set aside rather than spend it, and be ready to show a court that the problems are real. Done that way, a habitability defense can beat an eviction filed for nonpayment. Our guide to getting your landlord to make repairs walks through the steps that build that record.

Organizers say the strike won't stop at these five buildings. New Jersey has been moving on tenant issues from other directions too, including its ban on rent-setting algorithm software. For the full market picture, our Jersey City rent data tracks where prices sit and where they're heading.

Sources

• Hudson County View, for the strike, the buildings, the owners, and tenant quotes

• New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and Legal Services of New Jersey, for tenant rights and the implied warranty of habitability under Marini v. Ireland

• RentDataNow Jersey City rent data, anchored to the Zillow Observed Rent Index, August 2026, with income from the US Census Bureau