Landlord ban authority, possession and home-grow limits, medical patient housing rules, and federal Section 8 restrictions in New Jersey.
New Jersey legalized recreational cannabis for adults 21 and older under the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (CREAMMA), signed in February 2021 and codified at N.J.S.A. 24:6I-31 et seq. For landlords, the practical headline is favorable: the same law that made cannabis legal also preserved your authority to keep it out of your buildings. CREAMMA lets the owner or controller of a property prohibit or regulate the smoking, vaping, or aerosolizing of cannabis on the premises, including inside individual units. That authority is broader than what you have over alcohol, and it survives even though the drug itself is now lawful to possess and use privately.
The catch is federal law. Cannabis is still a Schedule I controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, and that mismatch controls what you can and must do in Section 8 and public housing. This page walks through your ban authority, the cultivation question, lease drafting, and enforcement.
New Jersey is classified as Adult-Use Recreational Legal (effective 2021). The governing statute is N.J.S.A. § 24:6I-31 et seq. (CREAMM Act, 2021).
No home cultivation in NJ, only state with adult-use legal but home grow banned. NJSA § 24:6I-52: landlord may prohibit smoking and vaping. Medical patients protected from housing discrimination under N.J.S.A. § 24:6I-6.1.
Adults 21 and older may possess up to 6 ounces of cannabis and use it privately. Dispensaries may sell no more than 1 ounce per transaction, and possession above the 6-ounce ceiling is a fourth-degree crime under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10, carrying up to 18 months in prison and a fine up to $25,000. None of that obligates you to allow cannabis in your rentals. CREAMMA expressly permits the person or entity that owns or controls a property to prohibit or regulate the smoking, vaping, or aerosolizing of cannabis on or in that property. Unlike alcohol, which a landlord generally cannot bar a tenant from consuming inside their own unit, cannabis smoke can be banned outright, unit by unit and building-wide.
The statute reaches smoke, vapor, and aerosol. It does not give you a distinct grant of authority over non-combustible edibles or tinctures consumed privately, so a clause aimed at those relies on ordinary lease-covenant and nuisance principles rather than CREAMMA's smoking provision.
New Jersey did not legalize home grow. Cultivating cannabis remains a crime for recreational users and for registered medicinal cannabis patients alike. Growing as little as one ounce up to five pounds is a third-degree crime, punishable by three to five years in prison and a fine up to $25,000, with steeper degrees for larger amounts. A tenant has no lawful right to grow in your unit under any circumstance, so a cultivation prohibition in the lease simply restates existing criminal law and gives you a clean contractual basis for enforcement. Bills to authorize personal home cultivation have been introduced in the Legislature but none had passed as of 2026, so the ban is current law.
Cultivation also raises real property risk beyond the legal exposure: grow operations drive humidity, mold, electrical load, and odor that can damage the unit and trigger complaints from other residents. Treat an active grow as both a lease violation and a habitability and safety problem.
CREAMMA gives you the authority, but the lease is what makes it enforceable. Include an explicit clause that prohibits smoking, vaping, and aerosolizing cannabis inside the unit, on balconies and patios, and in common areas, tracking the statutory language. Separately prohibit cultivation and any commercial cannabis activity. Because you are relying on a lease covenant, spell it out in writing; do not assume a generic no-smoking or no-illegal-activity clause covers legal recreational cannabis smoke.
For existing tenants without a cannabis clause, you generally cannot impose a new restriction mid-term. Add it at renewal, or when offering a new lease, and give proper notice of the changed term. Smoke-free building policies applied consistently to tobacco and cannabis are the cleanest approach and reduce secondhand-smoke disputes between residents.
New Jersey is a good-cause eviction state under the Anti-Eviction Act, so you cannot remove a tenant at will. A violation of a written lease covenant, including a cannabis clause, is a recognized ground under N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(e). In practice, a single incident rarely supports eviction; a documented pattern of violations after written notice does. Serve a notice to cease, keep dated records and any complaints from neighbors, and if the conduct continues, serve a notice to quit and file in the Special Civil Part. The court, not the landlord, orders any removal.
Keep enforcement even-handed. Selective enforcement, or targeting a tenant you suspect is a medicinal cannabis patient, invites a discrimination or retaliation defense. Enforce the written policy the same way for every resident.
The rules flip in federally assisted housing. Because cannabis is a Schedule I controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, state legalization does not protect the tenancy. Under 24 CFR Part 5, Subpart I, public housing authorities and assisted-housing owners may deny admission and terminate tenancy for illegal drug use, and HUD has stated it is statutorily required to deny federally assisted housing to marijuana users, even those complying with New Jersey law. A Section 8 or public housing tenant can lose their unit or voucher for conduct that a market-rate neighbor may do freely.
If you operate project-based Section 8, public housing, or other HUD-funded units, your lease and house rules must reflect the federal prohibition regardless of CREAMMA. A federal parity bill to shield assisted-housing residents who use cannabis in legal states has been proposed in Congress but is not law, so the federal ban stands.
Under N.J.S.A. § 24:6I-31 et seq. (CREAMM Act, 2021), a landlord may not refuse to rent to or evict a registered medical patient solely because of their medical-use status. However, three significant carve-outs apply:
The practical impact: a tenant holding a Housing Choice Voucher who tests positive for cannabis or self-discloses use during recertification can lose their voucher in New Jersey, regardless of any state cannabis legalization or medical card status. This is the single most common point of confusion for tenants in adult-use states.
City-level landlord risk profiles often track cannabis-related lease enforcement. View the eviction-risk and tenant-law profile for the largest New Jersey rental markets:
This overview reflects New Jersey law as of 2026, drawing on CREAMMA (N.J.S.A. 24:6I-31 et seq.), the criminal possession and cultivation provisions at N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10, the Anti-Eviction Act ground at N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(e), and the federal assisted-housing rules at 24 CFR Part 5, Subpart I. Cannabis law is unsettled and legislation on home cultivation and federal housing parity was pending but unenacted as of 2026. Statutes, penalties, and HUD guidance change; verify current text with the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission, the New Jersey statutes, and HUD before acting. This is general information for landlords, not legal advice for a specific tenancy.
Yes. CREAMMA (N.J.S.A. 24:6I-31 et seq.) lets the owner or controller of a property prohibit or regulate the smoking, vaping, or aerosolizing of cannabis on the premises, including inside individual units. This is broader than your authority over alcohol. The prohibition must be written into the lease to be enforceable.
No. Home cultivation is illegal statewide for both recreational users and registered medicinal patients. Growing one ounce up to five pounds is a third-degree crime punishable by three to five years in prison and a fine up to $25,000. A tenant has no legal right to grow, and a lease cultivation ban restates existing criminal law.
Adults 21 and older may possess up to 6 ounces. Possession above that is a fourth-degree crime under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10, carrying up to 18 months in prison and a fine up to $25,000. Dispensaries may sell no more than 1 ounce per transaction. Possession limits do not require a landlord to allow cannabis use on the property.
Potentially, but not automatically. New Jersey requires good cause under the Anti-Eviction Act. A lease-covenant violation is a ground under N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1(e), but a single incident rarely suffices. Serve a notice to cease, document a pattern, then a notice to quit, and obtain a court order. Enforce the policy consistently to avoid discrimination or retaliation defenses.
No. Cannabis is a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, so state legalization does not protect assisted-housing tenants. Under 24 CFR Part 5, Subpart I, public housing authorities and HUD-funded owners may deny admission or terminate tenancy for marijuana use, and HUD says it is required to do so, even when the tenant complies with New Jersey law.
Not from a smoking ban. Registered Medicinal Cannabis Program patients have no home-cultivation right and no right under CREAMMA to smoke cannabis on a property where the owner has restricted it. Enforce your written policy uniformly; do not single out a suspected patient, which could raise a discrimination claim.
Federal authority: 21 U.S.C. § 812; HUD PIH 2014-21. State authority: N.J.S.A. § 24:6I-31 et seq. (CREAMM Act, 2021). Last updated August 17, 2026. For informational purposes only, not legal advice. Cannabis law is rapidly evolving and federal/state conflict creates significant compliance risk; consult a licensed New Jersey attorney before making a lease, screening, or eviction decision involving cannabis.
