If real estate is leased by an agent of the owner thereof, in his own name or as agent, the owner, his assignee or grantee may terminate the tenancy as the agent might do. The owner or his duly authorized agent, assignee or grantee may institute and maintain proceedings to recover the possession or the rentals thereof in their own names or in the name of the former agent, in the same manner and with the same effect as though the real estate had been leased in their own names.
N.J.S. § 2A:18-51