JERSEY CITY — The City Council will consider a “no knock” law aimed at aggressive real estate investors next week, with council members saying today the measure will protect longtime residents.
The ordinance would update the city’s anti-solicitation law by including anyone looking to purchase real estate for themselves or for a third party. It would also create a “no knock” registry letting investors know which homes are owned by someone not interested in selling.
The measure, similar to laws passed in Toms River and Manchester, has been in the works for years, with residents saying that as Jersey City’s building boom has spread to neighborhoods outside of the Downtown, they are being harassed by people wanting to buy their homes.
At a City Hall press conference this afternoon, local activist Michael Griffin, who worked with council members on the ordinance, said some residents who ended up selling their houses were duped about their homes’ worth, he said.
“They were selling them under value,” Griffin said. “It felt like displacement to them.”
The law would exempt solicitations from members of charity and religious groups and politicians.
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City Council President Rolando Lavarro, one of five council members present at today’s press conference, said the city does not want to discourage real estate investment, only aggressive behavior.
If the council adopts the law, residents would contact the City Clerk to be added to the no-knock registry. They would receive a decal for their property telling investors they are not welcome.
Anyone who violates the law would be subject to a maximum $1,200 fine for the first offense and $2,000 for more. Violators’ city licenses would also be subject to revocation.
Police would be tasked with responding to calls about possible violations. Asked today if it was realistic to believe police would be able to respond to the calls, Lavarro said cops are “tasked with a lot of responsibilities.”
“We intend to make sure the public-safety department knows this is one more task on their plate,” he said. “We intend them to respond appropriately.”
Assunta Folcarelli, 57, has owned a house in the McGinley Square area for over 30 years. Folcarelli told The Jersey Journal she is inundated with pleas from investors who want her house.
“Every day they call me up,” she said. “I told one guy, ’40 years from now, when I’m dead and you’re dead, I’ll sell you my house.’ A week later, he calls and says, ‘I know you said 40 years, but are you ready to sell?’ It’s unbelievable.”
Folcarelli said she would sign up for the no-knock registry but she fears that wouldn’t stop the daily phone calls.
Toms River adopted a no-knock law in 2004 and its mayor told NJ Advance Media last year that more than 9,000 signed up. In 2016 the township adopted a law barring real estate investors entirely from a specific neighborhood, a result of a boom of Orthodox Jewish investors seeking to buy property in the town. Toms River borders Lakewood, which has a high Orthodox Jewish population.
Many of the real estate investors buying properties in Jersey City are Orthodox Jews, and it has led to some tensions between that community and longtime residents.
Rabbi Avi Schnall, director of Lakewood-based Orthodox Jewish organization Agudath Israel of America, was in Jersey City today praising council members for the no-knock ordinance. Schnall said the influx of Orthodox Jewish investors in Jersey City was giving a bad name to Orthodox families who have moved here to raise their families.
“The investors were doing things that the community was getting blamed for,” he said.
Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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