well Jersey City landlords are pushing back against a progressive new law giving renters facing eviction free legal help starting in the next two years proponents touted the measure as a way to level the playing field for the roughly 70 percent of residents who rent their homes in the city but a lawsuit from a powerful group of property owners could put a stop to it senior political correspondent David Cruz has the story when the Jersey City Council passed its right to council ordinance last month it was heralded as a small step towards helping tenants at least know their rights when it comes to hearings in Housing Court providing lawyers for tenants facing eviction and have developers pay a fee to help fund it councilman James Solomon is the sponsor of the bill and its most vocal proponent I think the the biggest challenge that folks have is is being scared and not knowing their rights so we have some tenants that leave before a formal eviction filing because they just get a threatening letter from a landlord not knowing that they don't have to leave their apartment worried about what might come next of tenants who do go to court Advocates say only about three percent of them come with an attorney either because of finances or because they don't think they'll need one according to Isaac Jimenez of the right to council campaign of the north Jersey Democratic socialists of America landlords almost always have a lawyer and it makes a big difference some of these cases can be extremely quick and they can just be um negotiations that would happen between lawyers but in the case where you don't have a representation for the tenant um actually judges just citing just talking with the plaintiff attorneys and you know coming up with a a judgment right there on the spot there's a big Coalition when it comes to finding uh once tenants are represented just overwhelmingly how much they stay in their homes I believe it's 86 percent of the time they get to stay in their homes um and in the times that they do leave they're given more time more money and as we know this is a precarious time for tenants so that matters a lot but landlords say the ordinance is flawed and they're suing to have it overturned they say at Targets just one class of taxpayers by charging only developers and landlords a fee to pay for tenants services and does little for landlords who provide a critical service with small margins let's look at the way the courts work today if I bring an eviction case it's probably 90 days before my case is heard during the pandemic it was more like a year and a half today the courts are are weeding through these things they're encouraging a lot of deals to be made maybe in 90 days you can be heard if the tenant says I need a continuance because of X or Y or Z they get it so by the time that the apartment actually can be returned to the apartment owner they're out four or five months worth of rent and that could wipe out a small landlord which simoncini says makes up the majority of his members he says the council forced the lawsuit by not tweaking the ordinance councilman Solomon says the ordinance is as amended as it's going to get and says he's looking forward to the case being dismissed and the program being fully implemented by 2026.

I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight News [Music]