More Proposed Legislation for Landlords
Posted by Stephen Marshall on
MORE PROPOSED LANDLORD LEGISLATION
There’s been a flurry of activity at our state legislature recently, with several new bills being filed that would impact the rental industry. Several of them repetitive, mirroring bills already filed in the other legislative chamber. And most of them are bad. Let’s take a look.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
- Senate Bill 289 – This bill is sponsored by Senator Reggie Thomas from Lexington. It would allow tenants to expunge any eviction judgment based on nonpayment of rent during the Covid-19 pandemic, beginning March 6, 2020. You can read the bill at this link.
- Senate Bill 357 – This bill is one of several anti-landlord bills sponsored by Senator Morgan McGarvey from Louisville. This bill mirrors House Bill 131 in giving local governments the authority to adopt rental control laws in development areas.
- Senate Bill 364 – This is another bill from Senator McGarvey that would change the URLTA and require 14 days’ notice to evict a tenant for failure to pay rent, rather than the current seven (7) days’ notice.
- Senate Bill 366 – Yet another bill from Senator McGarvey. This bill would require that tenants in eviction court get a court-appointed attorney if they are indigent. It further requires that the Kentucky Housing Corporation develop an information pamphlet about tenant rights and resources available to tenant. This pamphlet is to be provided to the tenant when they get notice of their eviction hearing. You can read the bill here.
- Senate Bill 368 – This is the worst of them all, again sponsored by Senator McGarvey. It mirrors House Bill 152, the 62-page bill that would overhaul Kentucky’s Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act. This is a hill to die on for landlords, as it would instantly make life much for complicated for landlords, tenants, attorneys, and judges. You can read it here.
- House Bill 587 – This bill is sponsored by Rep. Lynn Bechler of western Kentucky. This bill would make Source of Income a protected class under the state’s Fair Housing Act. The practical impact is that all landlords would be required to accept Section 8 Vouchers and participate in that program if a qualifying tenant who receives Section 8 vouchers wishes to rent from them. You can read the bill here.
Most of these bills are new, so it’s still too soon to see if they will move. Hopefully, since we’re this late in the session, they’ll just stay in committee, but feel free to give a call or e-mail to your state legislators about them.
POTENTIAL EVICTION COURT UPDATE
The Kentucky Supreme Court will be discussing the current rule requiring nonpayment of rent evictions to be continued for 14 days if the tenant appears in court. Let’s hope they realize that this rule is a bad idea for landlords and for court dockets. I’ll let you know if they make a change.
That’s it for today. If you need legal help, be sure to reach out to your friendly neighborhood attorney. If you need me, I’m at smarshall@tripleslaw.com. Have a great day.