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New Jersey

New Jersey · home improvement

Your rights in New Jersey

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

For home improvement contracts, wherever you sign

Cancel before midnight of the third business day after you get a copy, by certified mail or by hand. Money back within 30 days.

Exceptions, such as emergencies, are not verified yet.

Read the full rule

When it applies

Any home improvement contract with a contractor business for work on a residential property, wherever it was signed. The three business days start when you receive a copy of the contract.

You can cancel for any reason before midnight of the third business day after you receive a copy of the contract. Send a signed, dated cancellation notice by registered or certified mail (return receipt requested), or hand-deliver it, to the address in the contract. All the money you paid must be refunded within 30 days after the contractor gets your notice, and any loan you signed through the contractor is cancelled without penalty.

New Jersey Statutes · read on lis.njleg.state.nj.us · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

Registration number

On the contract, documents and ads

Home improvement contractor businesses must hold a current registration with the Division of Consumer Affairs, renewed every year.

Read the full rule

A New Jersey home improvement contractor business must hold a current registration with the Division of Consumer Affairs, renewed every year, and its registration number must be on your contract. You can call the Division's toll-free number to ask about a contractor before you sign.

Who needs one: Every contractor business that offers, sells or performs home improvements: remodeling, altering, renovating, repairing, restoring, modernizing, moving, demolishing or otherwise improving any part of a residential property, including insulation and installation. Building a new home is not home improvement. There is no dollar threshold, the registration must be renewed every year, and out-of-state businesses working in New Jersey are covered.

Who doesn't

  • Builders who must register under the New Home Warranty and Builders' Registration Act
  • People working on property they own or that a family member owns, or on property owned by a bona fide charity or other non-profit
  • People licensed, registered or certified by the State in a related profession (for example architects, professional engineers, landscape architects, land surveyors, electrical contractors and master plumbers) while working within the scope of that profession
  • Employees of a community association or cooperative corporation
  • Public utilities
  • Holders of a home repair contractor, home repair salesman or home financing agency license under N.J.S.A. 17:16C-77
  • Home improvement retailers with a net worth of more than $50,000,000, and their employees

Where the number must appear

  • the contract
  • business documents and correspondence with consumers
  • advertisements distributed in New Jersey
  • commercial vehicles registered in New Jersey that the contractor uses for home improvement work
  • the place of business

Issued by: New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs (Department of Law and Public Safety)

New Jersey Statutes · read on lis.njleg.state.nj.us · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

The contract must include

Source: NJ law

An estimate isn't the contract. Ask for all 7 in writing before you sign.

  • Written & signedOver $500; changes in writing too: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Be in writing when the price is over $500, signed by everyone who is a party to it, with any later change to its terms also put in writing.

  • Clear, legible termsIn language you can understand: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Set out all of its terms clearly, legibly and in language you can understand.

  • Legal name, address & reg. #: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Show the legal name, business address and registration number of the contractor business and of any contractor who will do the work, and, if the contractor holds one, the license number issued by the State Board of Home Improvement and Home Elevation Contractors.

  • Liability insurance certificateWith the insurer's phone number: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Include a copy of the contractor's commercial general liability insurance certificate (the law requires at least $500,000 per occurrence) and the phone number of the insurance company.

  • Total price & finance charges: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    State the total price or other payment you owe, including any finance charges.

  • 3-day cancel notice"Notice to Consumer", in bold: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Carry the 'Notice to Consumer' about your right to cancel within three business days, printed in at least 10-point bold type.

  • Consumer Affairs phone #Also on invoices and letters: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Show the Division of Consumer Affairs' toll-free phone number for questions about contractors. It must also be on invoices and letters the contractor sends you.

On signing day

  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources34 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • The cancellation right, the 30-day refund, the $500 written-contract threshold and the required contract contents come directly from the official statute text on the Legislature's site (N.J.S.A. 56:8-151, -144, -149). The registration rules come from N.J.S.A. 56:8-137, -138, -140, -142, -144 and -145 (the Contractors' Business Registration Act, as amended by P.L.2023, c.237). An independent verifier re-read every cited section on 2026-10-04 and found the figures as stated.
  • njconsumeraffairs.gov and dep.nj.gov returned an Imperva/Incapsula bot-block page to every automated request on 2026-10-04 (curl, WebFetch and a browser pane). The verifier got the same 'Request unsuccessful' Incapsula page with curl and in a regular Chrome browser on 2026-10-04. No attempt was made to get around it. As a result, these were NOT read: the Division of Consumer Affairs home improvement pages, its 'Nail It!' consumer page, the Home Improvement Practices rules (N.J.A.C. 13:45A-16), the contractor registration rules (N.J.A.C. 13:45A-17), and the DEP pesticide licensing pages. Those rules may add contract requirements (for example dates or descriptions of work) that are not listed here. A person should open https://www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/hic once to confirm.
  • Deposit: depositCap is null. No deposit or down-payment limit appears in the Contractors' Business Registration Act or the Home Improvement and Home Elevation Contractor Licensing Act. A search of the Legislature's statutes database for 'home improvement' together with deposit, deposits, 'down payment', 'down payments', 'advance payment', prepayment and 'percent of the contract' found no limit; the verifier repeated the deposit, deposits, 'down payment' and 'advance payment' searches and read every section from 56:8-131 to 56:8-158 with the same result. The only down-payment provision found, N.J.S.A. 17:16C-67, requires financed home repair contracts to state the down payment separately and sets no limit. The Division's regulations could not be read. The app must not state a New Jersey deposit cap or borrow one from another state.
  • Cancellation exceptions are null (not verified). N.J.S.A. 56:8-151(b) itself lists no exception, such as an emergency exception, but the Division's regulations were not read. The right applies to every home improvement contract, not only contracts signed at home. Because the state has its own right, the federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule is not used here.
  • Individual licensing is enacted but its start date is unconfirmed. P.L.2023, c.237 (approved January 8, 2024) created the State Board of Home Improvement and Home Elevation Contractors. It requires individuals doing home improvement work to be licensed by the Board or to work under a licensee's direction (N.J.S.A. 45:5AAA-9). It also requires registered businesses to employ a licensed contractor (56:8-138(d)-(g)). Both stay inoperative until the first day of the sixth month after the Board adopts its rules (45:5AAA-5(b); 56:8-138(h)). P.L.2025, c.323 (approved January 20, 2026) amended 45:5AAA-9 and kept that same condition. Whether the Board has adopted its rules could not be checked because the Division's site was blocked. Until a person confirms this, the app should present business registration with the Division as the current statewide credential. It should neither say that individual licenses are required nor that they are not.
  • The amendment to 56:8-151 that adds the Board license number to the required contract contents (section 39 of P.L.2023, c.237) took effect immediately under section 40 of that law. The contract line in this entry is therefore worded 'if the contractor holds one' and does not say whether any Board licenses have been issued yet.
  • Sections 7, 8 and 14 to 20 of P.L.2023, c.237 cover license eligibility and N.J.S.A. 45:5AAA-14, which lets municipalities issue home improvement construction permits only to licensed or exempt contractors. Section 40 sets them to take effect on the first day of the 25th month next following enactment; counted from the January 8, 2024 approval, that is February 1, 2026. How 45:5AAA-14 works before licenses are issued is unclear, so the app should not tell homeowners about it.
  • Insurance and bond: N.J.S.A. 56:8-142 requires registered businesses to carry at least $500,000 per occurrence of commercial general liability insurance and workers' compensation insurance unless exempted by law. Since P.L.2023, c.237 it also requires a compliance bond, letter of credit or other security of $10,000 to $50,000, scaled to contract size. The statute says the bond covers penalties assessed by the Division and cannot be used for treble-damage claims. The app should not describe it as money a homeowner can claim.
  • Small operators are covered too. An individual who earns at most $1,500 per contract and $25,000 a year from home improvement must still keep an annual registration (N.J.S.A. 56:8-137; 45:5AAA-13(c)-(d)).
  • Statute links point to nodes in the Legislature's NXT database (lis.njleg.state.nj.us). Each one resolved and showed the expected section on 2026-10-04. If a link stops working, look up the section number on the Legislature's statutes page.
  • Trade slugs left out of both lists. chimney-fireplace: a state master hearth specialist license is required for the business of 'hearth professional work' contracting (N.J.S.A. 45:16A-35), which includes chimney and vent systems for hearth appliances, but 45:16A-36 says that law does not stop a chimney service professional registered as a home improvement contractor with the Division from working within that scope, so the hearth license does not cover all chimney work and the slug is left to the general registration. smart-home: the state alarm-business license (N.J.S.A. 45:5A-25(a)) covers burglar alarm, fire alarm and electronic security systems only. septic-well and environmental-testing: not checked. outdoor_landscaping, cleaning, junk-removal and similar slugs: the current definition of home improvement in 56:8-137 is general and names no trades, so coverage could not be determined from the statute.

General information from official New Jersey sources. For your situation, ask the state's consumer protection office or a lawyer.

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