New Jersey Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which characteristic is protected in housing by the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination but is NOT a protected class under the federal Fair Housing Act?

• a.Familial status of a household with children under 18
• b.Source of lawful income used for rental or mortgage payments✓
• c.National origin of a prospective tenant or purchaser
• d.Disability of a prospective tenant or purchaser

New Jersey protects a longer list than the federal statute, and source of lawful income is the addition a licensee meets most often. N.J.S.A. 10:5-12(g) makes it unlawful to refuse to sell, rent or lease real property because of, among other things, "source of lawful income used for rental or mortgage payments," and N.J.S.A. 10:5-5 defines that term to include "any federal, State, or local public assistance or housing assistance voucher or funds, including Section 8 housing choice vouchers." Advertising a unit as one where vouchers are not accepted is therefore unlawful in New Jersey though not under federal law. Familial status, national origin and disability are on both lists, being three of the federal Fair Housing Act's seven. New Jersey's other additions include marital status, civil union and domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and service in or liability for service in the Armed Forces.

For a cause of action accruing today, the maximum recovery from the New Jersey Real Estate Guaranty Fund in connection with any one transaction, regardless of the number of claimants, is:

• a.$10,000
• b.$20,000✓
• c.$50,000
• d.$100,000

N.J.S.A. 45:15-34 caps recovery at "the sum of $10,000 in connection with any one transaction regardless of the number of claims, persons aggrieved, or parcels of, or interests in real estate involved in the transaction," then raises it: "[t]he maximum amount recoverable per transaction shall be increased to $20,000 for claims filed on the basis of causes of action which accrue after the effective date of P.L.1993, c.51." The $10,000 in the first clause is the pre-1993 residual, which is what makes it the trap. The cap is per transaction and not per claimant, so several people defrauded in one deal share it. Reaching the fund at all is deliberately hard: under N.J.S.A. 45:15-37 the claimant must reduce the claim to a final judgment, pursue all available remedies and be unable to satisfy it from the licensee's assets, and then obtain a court order directing payment.

The New Jersey Real Estate Sales Full Disclosure Act, N.J.S.A. 45:15-16.27 et seq., regulates the offering of subdivided lands that are:

• a.situated outside New Jersey and offered to a person in New Jersey✓
• b.situated anywhere in New Jersey and offered as 100 or more lots
• c.situated in any state and offered as fewer than 100 lots
• d.situated in a New Jersey Pinelands or coastal management area

The surprise in this Act is its geography. N.J.S.A. 45:15-16.28 defines "subdivision" and "subdivided lands" as "any land situated outside the State of New Jersey," and N.J.S.A. 45:15-16.31 supplies the hook to this State: the Act applies where an offer or disposition is made in New Jersey, or where an offer originating elsewhere is directed to a person or resident here. It is a consumer-protection statute aimed at out-of-state land promotions sold to New Jersey buyers; in-state planned developments are governed instead by the Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act. A subdivider must register with the Commission's Bureau of Subdivided Land Sales Control and deliver a public offering statement before the purchaser signs, and the purchaser may rescind without cause by midnight of the seventh calendar day after executing the contract. Offerings of fewer than 100 lots, parcels, units or interests are exempt.