Vicinage 1 (Atlantic/Cape May), NJ Courts ↗county guide

Getting your deposit back in Atlantic County, NJ: the courthouse, the boards, and who helps

You do not need a lawyer to sue for a deposit here. On the county's median rent, a full-deposit case lands in Small Claims at the Atlantic City courthouse - but that depends on your deposit, not the median, and the check below settles it. The rules behind it are the state's, not the county's: New Jersey law governs the deposit in all 23 municipalities, for the 34,276 households that rent here. What is local is everything around the rule: which courthouse hears the case, which towns keep a rent board, where the landlord is registered, and who will help for free.

Check my landlord's deadline - free →Build my case

← New Jersey deposit law, the rules themselves

Where you stand

Your deadline, your numbers, and why no Atlantic County ordinance changes either.

Has your landlord missed the 30-day deadline?

Two fields, ten seconds - the math follows N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.1, the same statute in every Atlantic County town. Add your deposit to see what you can demand and which Atlantic City track the doubled claim lands on.

The rules themselves: 30 days, doubled, one and a half months

These rules come from New Jersey state law, not from the county. We checked the published code of all 23 Atlantic County municipalities against the state's 2026 survey: not one has a deposit ordinance of its own, so a landlord who tells you it works differently in Mays Landing, Atlantic or Hammonton is wrong.

The Rent Security Deposit Act, N.J.S.A. 46:8-19 to 46:8-26, reads the same in every Atlantic County town. The New Jersey page has the full text and the case law; this is the short version.

30 days: to return it after you move out
2x: what a court awards on money wrongfully kept
1.5 months: the most any NJ landlord may collect

The clock starts the day the tenancy ends - usually the day the keys go back - and runs 30 days, five business days if fire, flood or condemnation put you out. Miss it, or keep money without an itemized reason, and the court doubles what was withheld: "shall", not "may", with costs on top. The same doubling applies at the Atlantic City courthouse as anywhere in the state. The statute in full, the exemptions and the case law are on the New Jersey page.

What a deposit dispute looks like in Atlantic County, in numbers

$1,376: median monthly rent
$2,064: the most a landlord may hold on it
34,276: renter households - 31% of the county

The median Atlantic County renter pays $1,376 a month, so the deposit on a median unit tops out at $2,064 - one and a half months is the state cap. If a landlord keeps all of it past the 30 days, the claim is that amount doubled, $4,128, which stays under the $5,000 Small Claims line: a typical full-deposit case in this county is a Small Claims filing, on the short form with the $35 fee. Only a deposit above $2,500 doubles past it into the Special Civil Part.

Rent boards exist in 5 of the 23 municipalities

Rent control is the one landlord-tenant rule New Jersey towns set locally, and 5 towns in Atlantic County keep a board. None of it touches deposits - the cap and the 30 days are the state's everywhere - but a board knows its local landlords, which is worth a call when a management company has gone quiet.

The 5 Atlantic County boards, and the towns without one

Municipality	Covers	Annual limit	Board
Atlantic	every rental unit	Annual growth in CPI. Hardship increase allowed w/approval from Office of Landlord - Tenant Affairs : Applies when landlord current net operating income (NOI)/gross maximized annual income ratio is less than 40%, or the current year NOI/gross maximized income ratio is less than the average of three prior years' net operating income to gross maximized annual income ratio. Landlord is allowed an increase necessary to provide a current NOI/gross maximized annual income ratio equal to the average three prior years' net operating income to gross maximized annual income ratio; or an increase necessary to provide a current net operating income/gross maximized annual income ratio of 40%. Capital improvement increase: Tenant-prorated share of the total cost of the capital improvement divided by the expected life of the capital improvement plus 5%.	Division of Landlord Tenant Affairs (609) 347-5290
Hammonton	buildings of 4 or more units	Percentage change in Philadelphia metro CPI	Rent Control Board (609) 567-4300
Mullica	Senior mobile home parks	Increases determined by the June CPI for the Philadelphia region, with a 1% minimum and 4% maximum. Surcharge for hardship, capital improvement, utility, or governmentally-mandated expenses may be approved.	Rent Review Board (609) 561-0064 ext. 115
Pleasantville	every rental unit	Lesser of CPI 12-month increase or 5%	Rent Control Board (609) 484-3611
Weymouth	Senior mobile home parks	Percentage increase in Social Security payments, based on most recent SSI cost of living adjustment. If the COLA in a given year meets or exceeds 5%, the Rent Control Board can approve a COLA rental increase less than the full COLA for that given year, but not less than the 5% increase.	Rent Control Board (609) 476-2633

No rent control: Absecon, Brigantine, Buena, Buena Vista, Corbin, Egg Harbor Township, Estell Manor, Folsom, Galloway, Hamilton, Linwood, Longport, Margate, Northfield, Port Republic, Somers Point, Ventnor. In those towns the rent is whatever the lease says, and the deposit is still capped at one and a half months of it.

One town had a board and dropped it: Egg Harbor City (repealed December 17, 2025). An older lease may still mention the ordinance; it no longer applies, and it never touched the deposit either way.

The courthouse, and how you file

The Atlantic City window, the form your claim needs, and what it costs here.

Where a Atlantic County deposit case is filed

Deposit lawsuits go to the Special Civil Part of the Superior Court, which sits by county. You file in the county where the landlord lives or does business - not where you live - and if the landlord is out of state, in the county where the rental is. A Mays Landing tenant whose landlord runs the building from the next county over files there; a Mays Landing tenant with a Mays Landing landlord files here. Note that the civil courthouse is in Atlantic City, not in Mays Landing, the county seat. The Special Civil Part window is in the Atlantic County Civil Courthouse. Atlantic shares a vicinage with Cape May, but each county keeps its own Special Civil Part office - file at the Atlantic one.

The courthouse: Atlantic County Civil Courthouse
Special Civil Part (Small Claims Section)
1201 Bacharach Boulevard, Atlantic City, NJ 08401
Phone and hours: 609-402-0100 ext. 47770
Mon - Fri: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Small Claims Section: Claims up to $5,000. Filing fee $35, plus $5 for each additional defendant.
Special Civil Part: Claims up to $20,000. Filing fee $50 to $75.

The Atlantic City office in practice

Checked on September 4, 2026 against the court's own pages. Rooms, hours and phone extensions change without notice - confirm with the office before you rely on any line below.

Special Civil Part / Small Claims line - the courthouse number above: 609-402-0100 ext. 47770
Landlord-tenant line: 609-402-0100 ext. 47760

Free help inside the courthouse. The vicinage's Court User Resource Center - Atlantic County Civil Courthouse, 1201 Bacharach Boulevard, Atlantic City, NJ 08401, Cape May Court User Resource Center, 609-402-0100 ext. 47220 - explains forms and procedure to people without a lawyer, Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Staff cannot give legal advice, but they can tell you which form, which window, and what is missing from your file before you pay the fee.

Settling before the judge. On the hearing date the court sends both sides to a settlement conference first; many deposit cases end there with a payment plan.

Filing here: the Atlantic County layer

The procedure is the state's - what is local is the window you hand it to. Filing to judgment in New Jersey, in four steps has the sequence, the exhibit stack and the hearing itself. Here is the Atlantic County layer.

Before you file: Send the demand letter by certified mail first, citing N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.1 and the 30-day deadline, and give it 10 to 14 days. A judge will ask whether the landlord had a chance to pay, and the letter becomes your first exhibit.
Your form: Up to $5,000 it is the Small Claims kit; above that the Special Civil Part complaint. Enter your deposit in the check at the top and this page names your form.
Where to hand it in: The Special Civil Part window, 1201 Bacharach Boulevard, Atlantic City, NJ 08401 - in person during court hours, by mail to the same address, or online through JEDS. One copy of the complaint per defendant.
What it costs here: $35, plus $5 for each additional defendant in Small Claims, $50 to $75 in the Special Civil Part. A fee waiver is available if you cannot afford it - ask the clerk for the form when you file.

The Atlantic City office at 609-402-0100 ext. 47770 can tell you the current wait - count on two to three months from filing to a hearing date in most vicinages.

The forms, from the court itself

How to sue for up to $5,000 in Small Claims - non-motor-vehicle kit · CN 10151
Special Civil Part complaint kit, with instructions · CN 10541
A Guide to Small Claims · CN 10290
Special Civil: A Guide to the Court · CN 10281
Judiciary Electronic Document Submission · JEDS

III

Looking things up, and getting help

The landlord's legal name and address, which of 23 Atlantic County clerks holds it, and who helps for free.

Finding the landlord's mailing address

A demand letter needs an address, and the one on the lease is often a management office that has since moved. Under New Jersey's Landlord Identity Law your landlord had to register the owner's name and address - with the municipal clerk for one- and two-unit buildings, with the state for anything larger - and the clerk's copy is public. The lookup below has the clerk for every one of Atlantic County's 23 municipalities.

2 Atlantic County cities run their own rental registries on top of the state filing - an inspection or licensing office that holds the current owner and managing agent for every registered rental. Where your building is in one of them, that office is usually quicker than the clerk.

Atlantic City · Landlord Registration and Licensing / Landlord Registration Database (City Code Chapter 41, Ordinance 63 of 1998) (Division of Landlord-Tenant Affairs (registration) and Department of Licensing and Inspections (license issuance and database)) · 609-347-5290
Every landlord, owner or rental agent must register within 30 days of occupancy or purchase; the city maintains a public landlord registration database searchable by address, landlord name and business entity. Online search at https://www.acnj.gov/Page/landlord-registration-property-listing (sortable table, CSV/Excel/PDF export), or call Landlord-Tenant Affairs at 609-347-5290, 1301 Bacharach Blvd Room 112.
Pleasantville · Rental Registration Permit and inspection (City Code Chapter 208 Rental Housing) (Housing Division (Building and Zoning), City Hall Annex) · 609-484-3633
Annual registration permit per rental unit with initial inspection by the Housing Inspector; the city posts a Rental Registration form and a Landlord Registration Act statement form. No public lookup shown; call the Housing Division at 609-484-3633 or visit City Hall Annex, 132 West Washington Avenue, Pleasantville, NJ 08232.

Where the landlord's registration is filed: the municipal clerk

New Jersey's Landlord Identity Law makes every landlord file a registration statement - the owner's legal name and address, and the managing agent's - and for one- and two-unit buildings it is filed with the clerk of the municipality the rental is in (larger buildings register with the state Department of Community Affairs). The clerk's copy is a public record. Pick your town for the office that holds it.

Your town in Atlantic County

All 23 municipal clerks in Atlantic County

Municipality	Clerk's office	Phone
Absecon City	Municipal Complex, 500 Mill Road, Absecon, NJ 08201	609-641-0663
Atlantic City	City Hall, 1301 Bacharach Blvd., Room 311, Atlantic City, NJ 08401	609-347-5300
Brigantine City	1417 W. Brigantine Ave, Brigantine, NJ 08203	609-266-7600
Buena Borough	616 Central Ave., Minotola, NJ 08341	856-697-9393
Buena Vista Township	890 Harding Hwy. (P.O. Box 605), Buena, NJ 08310	856-697-2100
Corbin City	316 Route 50, Corbin City, NJ 08270	609-701-0200
Egg Harbor City	500 London Ave., Egg Harbor City, NJ 08215	609-965-0081
Egg Harbor Township	3515 Bargaintown Rd., Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234	609-926-4000
Estell Manor City	148 Cumberland Ave. (P.O. Box 102), Estell Manor, NJ 08319	609-476-2692
Folsom Borough	1700 12th St., Folsom, NJ 08037	609-561-3178
Galloway Township	300 E Jimmie Leeds Rd., Galloway Township, NJ 08205	609-652-3700
Hamilton Township	6101 13th St., Mays Landing, NJ 08330	609-625-1511
Hammonton Town	100 Central Ave., Hammonton, NJ 08037	609-567-4300
Linwood City	400 Poplar Ave., Linwood, NJ 08221	609-927-4108
Longport Borough	2305 Atlantic Ave., Longport, NJ 08403	609-823-2731
Margate City	9001 Winchester Avenue, Margate, NJ 08402	609-822-2605
Mullica Township	4528 White Horse Pike, Elwood, NJ 08217	609-561-7070
Northfield City	1600 Shore Rd., Northfield, NJ 08225	609-641-2832
Pleasantville City	18 N First St., Pleasantville, NJ 08232	609-484-3600
Port Republic City	143 Main St., Port Republic, NJ 08241	609-652-1501
Somers Point City	1 W. New Jersey Ave., Somers Point, NJ 08244	609-927-9088
Ventnor City	6201 Atlantic Ave., Ventnor, NJ 08406	609-823-7900
Weymouth Township	45 South Jersey Avenue, Dorothy, NJ 08317	609-476-2633

List from the county's own directory, checked September 4, 2026.

Free help in Atlantic County

South Jersey Legal Services - Atlantic County office · 609-348-4200
1300 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ 08401. Free civil legal help for lower-income residents, including tenant matters.
Volunteer Lawyers for Justice · 973-645-1955
Statewide pro bono program that helps tenants draft deposit demand letters and prepare pro se complaints against landlords who kept a deposit.
Legal Services of New Jersey hotline · 1-888-576-5529
Statewide intake line for free legal help, 1-888-LSNJ-LAW.

If it goes wrong

What losing costs, whether they can retaliate, and how a Atlantic County judgment is actually collected.

Before you file: the three things people worry about

What if I lose?: You are out the filing fee and the time. You are the one suing, so losing leaves you where you started and puts no eviction on your record. What losing actually costs - and the one point most failed claims turn on - is on the New Jersey suing page.
Can the landlord retaliate?: After a move-out, barely - the tenancy is over and you are the plaintiff. If you still rent from them, New Jersey bars reprisals for exercising a legal right. The full answer is on the New Jersey suing page; in Atlantic County the ombudsman at the Atlantic County Civil Courthouse and South Jersey Legal Services - Atlantic County office both take the question in person, for free.
If I win, how do I get paid?: The court does not collect for you - a judgment is an instrument you enforce, and judgments against landlords are unusually collectable. Collecting your judgment walks through levy, garnishment and liens. The writ is issued by the Vicinage 1 (Atlantic/Cape May) clerk at the same Atlantic City window you filed at.

Build your case

The case builder runs on New Jersey law, which is exactly the law that applies here. It checks the 30-day deadline against your move-out date, grades each deduction, and writes the demand letter with the statute cited - the letter that becomes Exhibit A at the Atlantic City courthouse if it comes to that.

Build your case →

Sources

Court, board and legal-aid details checked on September 4, 2026. Phone numbers and fees change; confirm with the office before you rely on one. Not reviewed by a licensed attorney, and not legal advice.