New Jersey's lead ADU bill dropped its HOA covenant-voiding clause
New Jersey's lead ADU bill dropped its HOA covenant-voiding clause
2026-09-15 · New Jersey · Legislation · Pending — not yet law
The New Jersey accessory-dwelling-unit bill that has advanced further than any other association-related measure this session did so by giving associations their authority back.
S1786, sponsored by Senators Troy Singleton and Britnee N. Timberlake with Senator Wimberly co-sponsoring, was pre-filed for the 2026 session. On June 1, 2026 the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee reported it favorably with committee amendments and referred it to Senate Budget and Appropriations.1
What the introduced version said
As introduced, associations "are prohibited from adopting or enforcing a restriction, covenant, bylaw, rule, regulation, master deed provision, or governing document provision that prohibits or unreasonably restricts the development or use of an ADU… Under the bill, any such provisions are void and unenforceable."
What the reported version says
The committee reprint does not contain the phrase "void and unenforceable." It does not contain the words "master deed" or "covenant" anywhere. The word "association" appears once.
What survives is a new subsection e., which runs in the opposite direction: "in the case of a lot located within a planned real estate development… a municipality or common interest community association may impose and enforce reasonable regulations, by ordinance or through governing documents, concerning: (1) stormwater management and drainage; (2) utility capacity and utility connections; (3) fire safety and emergency vehicle access; (4) parking allocation and access to private streets or driveways; (5) protection of common elements and common property; (6) architectural standards consistent with the governing documents of the planned real estate development; and (7) the allocation of any proportionate increase in common expenses directly attributable to the development or operation of an accessory dwelling unit."
The backstop: "Any regulation adopted pursuant to this subsection shall be reasonable, uniformly applied, and shall not operate to prohibit, unreasonably restrict, or materially delay the development of an accessory dwelling unit otherwise permitted."
Reading the seven categories as a drafting brief
For a New Jersey board, subsection e. is close to a checklist of what a defensible ADU policy would contain. Items (1) through (5) are the association's genuine operational concerns — basin capacity, utility loading, fire lanes, parking, and damage to common property. Item (6) preserves architectural standards, but only where they are "consistent with the governing documents," which means a standard invented for ADUs alone would be vulnerable.
Item (7) is the one most boards would otherwise have missed: the allocation of "any proportionate increase in common expenses directly attributable to the development or operation of an accessory dwelling unit." An ADU adds a household to a water system, a trash contract and a parking count without adding a lot. The bill expressly contemplates charging for that, and an association that wants to would need the mechanism in place before an application arrives.
Other committee amendments
The same reprint removed the 300-square-foot ADU minimum, deferring to the Uniform Construction Code; redefined "buildable area" as the front setback plus a five-foot side and rear setback; redefined "single-family dwelling" to include attached row and town houses; and required a 30-day minimum rental term, which keeps ADUs out of the short-term rental market.
The covenant-voiding language did not disappear from the Legislature
It moved to a different bill. S2680, a separate ADU measure pre-filed for 2026 by Senator Timberlake, still carries it: an association "shall not… adopt or enforce a restriction, covenant, bylaw, rule, regulation, master deed provision, or provision of a governing document prohibiting or unreasonably restricting the development or use of an accessory dwelling unit," and any such provision "is void and unenforceable."
S2680 permits design and landscaping conditions only where they "are not in excess of conditions generally imposed within the planned real estate development" and "do not unreasonably increase the cost to construct, effectively prohibit the construction of, or extinguish the ability to otherwise construct" an ADU. Notably, it supplements P.L.1993, c.30 — it writes directly into the PREDFDA association chapter rather than the zoning statutes.
S2680 has had no committee action. Given that the same committee stripped this exact language out of S1786 three months into the session, it is not a bill to describe as the likely vehicle.
A third ADU bill does not touch associations at all
A3488, pre-filed for 2026 by Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, is municipal-zoning only. Its statement contains no association or covenant provision. Coverage that treats "the New Jersey ADU bills" as a single thing gets this wrong in both directions.
What is not established
S1786 has had no Budget and Appropriations action and no floor vote, and we identified no Assembly companion. No source explains who sought the June 1 amendment or why — the Senate Democrats' own releases on that day's committee package do not mention associations, covenants or deed restrictions at all. The change is visible only in the bill documents themselves, and it should not be attributed to any organisation.
Related New Jersey HOA Topics
- S1786 committee statement, Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee, June 1, 2026 ↩
- S1786 as introduced — the “void and unenforceable” version ↩
- S1786 reprint as reported with committee amendments — the surviving subsection e. ↩
- S2680 (222nd Legislature), introduced text, retaining the covenant-voiding language ↩
- A3488 (222nd Legislature), introduced text — municipal zoning only ↩
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