anyone landlords using NJCourts website ?

Question

I have spoken to a few friends and real estate professionals and surprisingly few are familiar with the NJcourts website.  You can look up eviction filings, civil cases and criminal convictions for free.  In Newark, NJ i stopped pulling credit reports years ago unless it is a very common name. Instead i use the NJcourts website to see eviction filings, criminal convictions, creditor lawsuits, etc.. I do not even waste my time and show apartments to anyone inquiring if i see the red flags on this free site. Is anyone else having a good experience with this site?

Ray Reed · Answer

Account Closed not only can you use it for screening, you can get all the eviction forms on that site too in PDF format.  I know you are in NY, you can download the paperwork and even file for eviction by mail, saving you gas and tolls.

Ray Reed · Answer

Richard S. ... you are all welcome. I have found this site as one of the best things since sliced bread for a landlord in NJ... as i was telling another member, it may not be intuitive but it is easy to learn.  i learned it from plugging in my name and learned the codes since i knew the results of my my cases. to do the eviction and civil check, you look for one of the links on the left side labeled 'civil case public access'. you then get prompted to verify a code. after that you do a search by name. prefix 'LT' is a landlord tenant case. once you click on a particular docket, you can back out and do a search by docket. by default, the name and docket you clicked on earlier automatically gets populated. from there you can see if the case was dismissed, default or a warrant of removal was paid for.  i have quickly screened out tenants that were in court 2 days prior and looking to move 'ASAP'. i have also screened out tenants that there were filings every other month = bad paying tenant.

two things to keep in mind, system does go down certain hours and there is an archive menu when you do a search by name. recently the state has been archiving cases in less than 2 years. you can still  see if a case has been filed. you can't see what documents have been filed, if a warrant of removal has been paid for, tenant's eviction address, etc.  but to be honest, i just want to see if cases have been filed against them and how often.

Kelly Arthur · Answer

@ray

@Ray Reed thanks for sharing. This is great information!!!

Omar Ismael · Answer

Thanks for the info Ray Reed

Richard S. · Answer

Haven't used it but thanks for the heads up!