Collection of rent Other Debt

Relating to NJ statute of limitations:
Collection of Rents
16 years, generally. NJSA § 2A:14-4
Actions on lease, specialty, recognizance or award; 16 years; effect of payments; action on instrument under seal brought by merchant or financial institution; 6 years

I have a debt on my credit report from 2012 in relation to monies due on an apartment.
Background, after issues with apartment (I tried negotiating upcoming lease & amenities after being there over 16 years), they filed to evict, but I left, leaving security deposit as last month's rent (I left in last month as lease ended). They canceled eviction (as I was gone & also checked with the court) but still sent bills for "unpaid rent"/damages(?)/outrageous cleaning fees & anything they could legally tack on (and this debt is on credit report). In relation to above statute,will this debt will be outstanding for 16 years as opposed to 6?

As an aside, they (their debt collector) only sent a couple of bills back in 2012, and now I just get notice that the interest on debt increases every few months on credit report. I tried negotiating/disputing the charges back then but no dice - so every few years would just dispute on credit report & go on from there) . Thank you for any clarification on above statute!

 

I'm trying to decipher:
Collection of Rents
16 years, generally. NJSA § 2A:14-4
Actions on lease, specialty, recognizance or award; 16 years; effect of payments; action on instrument under seal brought by merchant or financial institution; 6 years

Will this debt will be outstanding for 16 years as opposed to 6?

 

Thank you adjusterjack so very much! I just couldn't find out what the "under seal" meant.

I know I was a bit brief in my initial post, but this is bit of a weird case where they're not sending bills (only the initial one way back in 2012 from the apartment) - essentially the apartment sold it immediately to a debt collector, and they only sent 1 bill. I couldn't get a specific verification and any disputes were answered with "It's valid" even though I couldn't get an itemized list, i.e., what the specific "damages" were, what the "cleaning fees" entailed. The debt collector bought a total debt, which, yes, according to the apartment I owe, but I couldn't get specifics/itemization.

But throughout these disputes over the years (about 4 in total), they never sent an additional bill, nor initiated any court proceedings. I think they know if I took the time to get to the nitty-gritty with a legal challenge, they would lose, or at least realize there's an issue with this debt. But they also know if I did this, I would either open myself up to owing something and/or screw up the SoL. It's like a catch-22.

But, thanks again adjusterjack - you've been a great help!