## Facts

- Jose Gonzalez rented a residential apartment managed by New York East Coast Management.
- The landlord alleged Gonzalez paid rent late on a habitual basis.
- After the landlord claimed continued late payments, it served Gonzalez with a written notice to vacate the apartment.
- Gonzalez spoke only Spanish, but the notice to vacate was written in English.
- Gonzalez did not vacate after receiving the notice.
- The landlord filed a summary dispossess (eviction) complaint seeking possession based on habitual late payment of rent under New Jersey’s eviction statutes.
- The landlord asserted Gonzalez was not entitled to relocation assistance.
- Gonzalez moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing the notice to vacate was void because it was not in Spanish and relying on 5000 Park Associates v. Collado, a prior Law Division decision addressing English-only notices served on a Spanish-speaking tenant.

## Issues

1. Whether an English-only notice to vacate is ineffective under New Jersey eviction law when the landlord knows the tenant speaks only Spanish.
2. Whether the court should treat 5000 Park Associates v. Collado as requiring dismissal whenever a residential eviction notice is not written in a language the tenant can read.

## Decision

- The court denied Gonzalez’s motion to dismiss.
- The court held the English-only notice to vacate was not void solely because Gonzalez spoke only Spanish.
- The court declined to apply Collado as a blanket rule requiring eviction notices to be translated into a tenant’s language in all cases.
- The eviction action was permitted to proceed, with the landlord still required to prove a lawful basis for possession.

## Legal Principles

- A landlord seeking to evict a residential tenant must satisfy the applicable statutory notice and procedural requirements before obtaining possession.
- When the governing eviction statutes do not impose a translation requirement, courts generally do not add one as a condition of a valid notice.
- Due process focuses on whether notice is reasonably calculated to inform the tenant of the landlord’s claim and provide an opportunity to respond; a language barrier is relevant to that inquiry but does not automatically invalidate an English-only notice.
- A prior Law Division decision (such as Collado) may be considered for its reasoning, but it is not binding on another Law Division judge and does not automatically control different facts.

## Conclusion

New York East Coast Management v. Gonzalez held that an eviction notice written only in English was not automatically invalid when served on a Spanish-only tenant, and the court therefore denied the tenant’s motion to dismiss and allowed the landlord’s summary dispossess complaint to go forward.


New York East Coast Management v. Gonzalez, 870 A.2d 314, 376 N.J. Super. 264 (2004)