Dempsey v. Mastropasqua

In Dempsey v. Mastropasqua, 242 N.J. Super. 234, 576 A.2d 335 (App.Div.1990) the Court determined that a 3.5% ownership interest in a building with not more than two rental units satisfies the ownership requirement. The Court concluded that "the word 'owner' conveys a meaning of nothing more than the emoluments of title," noting that "the Legislature did not qualify the word 'owner' when it wrote the statute." Id. at 238, 576 A.2d 335. Although the issue of the landlord's limited use of the premises was raised in that case, the Court did not rule on whether the landlord's occupancy prevented him from achieving owner-occupant status. The Court did state, however, that we did not intend our holding on the title issue in any way to imply that we agreed with the trial judge that the landlord's limited use of his unit was insufficient occupancy to qualify as "owner-occupied." Id. at 237 n.1, 576 A.2d 335. The record in Dempsey does not indicate the frequency or duration of the landlord's use of the premises