Most retirees fill their days with hobbies like pickleball or gardening.
Jason Lu of Tewksbury Township spends his days getting a crash course in the law so he can represent himself in a legal battle with the township over how he is using his own house.
Tewksbury Township filed a lawsuit to collect $220,000 from Lu for a kitchen allegedly installed without permits and for renting out rooms in his single-family home.
Lu, a retired doctor and pharmaceutical executive, owns the home with his wife Lan Zhu, according to court documents.
The dispute between Lu, Zhu and the township is over their home at 21 Laurel Mountain Way. It has been going on for more than three years.
But it escalated last month when Tewksbury filed the lawsuit in Superior Court seeking to stop rental activity, compel an inspection of the home and force fines to be paid for violations, according to court documents.
In a phone interview with NJ Advance Media, Lu said the violations and lawsuit are a “coordinated government effort” to infringe on his rights and that he’s not doing anything wrong.
His tenants, who rent bedrooms and share common areas of the home, are “like-minded professionals” who include a cardiac surgeon, a federal government employee and a senior management executive who recently relocated from California.
The rent he collects helps to cover his $28,000 annual property tax bill and fills a social interaction void now that he’s retired.
Lu told the township in a June 30, 2022 letter that the couple is sad about losing an opportunity to make extra income during their retirement, a connection to society “through the wonderful guests we host” and “learning opportunities through many intellectual conversations and cultural exchanges.”
An attorney for Tewksbury did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
When Lu, then a pediatrician, came to the United States from Shanghai, China, in 1992, he rented a room in a New Brunswick home that was owned by a Hungarian couple while he completed his PhD in genetics at Rutgers University.
“It was a wonderful experience,” Lu said, adding that “a shared house is very common.”
After he retired in 2022, Lu said, he decided to rent out some of the bedrooms in his 8,500 square foot home.
A one bedroom, one bathroom, 1,500 square foot unit at Lu and Zhu’s address is advertised on Apartments.com for $1,350 per month.
The listing says, “Absolutely beautiful furnished room with new private bathroom plus kitchenette on second floor of a manor … The house locates in an upscale neighborhood … Limited to one person. No smoking, no drugs and no pets. It’s ready to move in.”
The home, built in 1993, has a total of eight bedrooms and five bathrooms, and sits on a 2.79-acre lot in Tewksbury, which has been named one of the highest income towns in New Jersey. Residents there had a median income of $188,500, according to U.S. Census data from 2019-2023.
Tewksbury has been home to Gerard and Eileen Ford, who founded the Ford Modeling Agency; actors James Gandolfini and Joe Piscopo; and former Governor Christine Todd Whitman.
The homeowners were first cited in June 2022 for renting out part of their house, effectively operating a multi‑family dwelling in a single‑family zone. Six days later Lu sent a letter to the township saying the rooms would not be rented any more, according to court documents.
A second notice of violation was issued a year and a half later, in December 2023, for renting a portion of the home. Another violation was issued for a second kitchen.
The township says in court papers that the original house plans did not include a second kitchen and that no zoning or construction permits have been issued for one.
But Lu says the kitchen was there when he moved in and is also documented on the original certificate of occupancy for the home.
“It’s not a new installation. There’s no reason to look at it,” Lu said of town officials’ attempts to inspect the home.
An attorney who was representing the homeowners at one point sent a cease and desist letter in January 2024 asking the township to stop harassing Lu and Zhu. The attorney also appealed the violations to the Hunterdon County Construction Board of Appeals.
The Board of Appeals in December 2024 upheld the two notices of violation and instructed the homeowners to allow an inspection within 30 days.
In March 2025, the township told the Board of Appeals that the homeowners had made no effort to pay the $130,000 in fines that had accumulated over 64 weeks of violations, according to court documents.
The homeowners did not show up to a May 2025 Board of Appeals hearing, according to court documents, and the violations were upheld.
Then, on Oct. 20, 2025, the township received an anonymous letter from a resident saying that rooms in the home were still being rented and that there “are up to 8 vehicles parked around the property with frequent comings and goings at all hours, creating excessive noise and disruption … It is beginning to affect the peace, safety and property values of surrounding homes.”
“Additionally, I am concerned about the health and safety risks posed by overcrowding, possible sanitation issues, and the lack of proper approvals or inspections for residential occupancy,” the letter said.
A second anonymous person contacted the town in November 2025 after responding to a Craigslist ad for rental space in the home. The person reported that the home did not have functioning heat and detailed other issues that impacted the rental space’s habitability.
That tenant moved out in December 2025 and the space was being listed for rent on Craigslist, according to court papers.
Lu says he, his wife and one of their three adult children currently live in the home with three professionals who rent rooms.
“People have a need and we have something to offer, so we wanted to do it,” he said.
He added that while the township code doesn’t explicitly forbid his rental arrangement, it includes a catch‑all provision saying anything not expressly permitted is prohibited.
Lu filed a motion to dismiss the case, while the township filed a cross motion for summary judgment—a legal request to resolve the case without a full trial.
A Hunterdon County Superior Court judge is expected to make a decision on both motions on Jan. 16.
