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2020 SPECIAL SESSION I

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HB 5106 Landlord and tenant; noncompliance with rental agreement, reporting negative credit information.

Introduced by: Joshua G. Cole | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles | history

SUMMARY AS PASSED:

Landlord and tenant; noncompliance with rental agreement; prohibition on using negative credit information arising from the COVID-19 pandemic against applicants for tenancy; penalty. Provides that a landlord who owns more than four rental dwelling units or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling units in the Commonwealth shall not take any adverse action against an applicant for tenancy based solely on payment history or an eviction for nonpayment of rent that occurred during the period beginning on March 12, 2020, and ending 30 days after the expiration or revocation of any state of emergency declared by the Governor related to the COVID-19 pandemic. If such a landlord denies an applicant for tenancy, the bill requires the landlord to provide the applicant written notice of the denial and of the applicant's right to assert that his failure to qualify was based upon payment history or an eviction based on nonpayment of rent that occurred during the proscribed period. If a landlord does receive a response from the applicant asserting such a right, and the landlord relied upon a consumer or tenant screening report, the landlord must make a good faith effort to contact the generator of the report to ascertain whether such determination was due solely to the applicant for tenancy's payment history or an eviction for nonpayment that occurred during the proscribed period. The bill permits a tenant or applicant for tenancy to recover damages of up to $1,000, along with attorney fees, from landlords who do not comply with these requirements.

SUMMARY AS PASSED HOUSE:

Landlord and tenant; noncompliance with rental agreement; prohibition on using negative credit information arising from the COVID-19 pandemic against applicants for tenancy; penalty. Provides that a landlord shall not take any adverse action against a tenant or applicant for tenancy based on any adverse item related to payment history or an eviction for nonpayment of rent that occurred during the period beginning on March 12, 2020, and ending 30 days after the expiration or revocation of any state of emergency declared by the Governor related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill also requires landlords who use consumer or tenant screening reports and who receive notification that a tenant or applicant for tenancy is determined to be anything other than "qualified" to contact the generator of the report in instances in which the report does not specify the reason for such determination to ascertain whether such determination was due solely to the tenant the tenant or applicant for tenancy's payment history or an eviction for nonpayment of rent that occurred during the period beginning on March 12, 2020, and ending 30 days after the expiration or revocation of any state of emergency declared by the Governor related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill permits a tenant or applicant for tenancy to recover damages of up to $1,000, along with attorney fees, from landlords who do not comply with these requirements.

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Landlord and tenant, noncompliance with rental agreement; prohibition on reporting negative credit information arising from the COVID-19 pandemic; penalty; emergency. Provides that a landlord may not furnish to any consumer reporting agency any adverse item of information relating to a tenant that was the result of any action or inaction that occurred during the period beginning on February 11, 2020, and ending 30 days after the expiration or revocation of any state of emergency declared by the Governor related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A landlord in violation of these provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be fined not less than $1,000 or double the amount of the tenant's monthly rent, whichever is greater, but not more than $10,000, or he may be imprisoned for not more than six months, or both, for each offense. The provisions of this act do not apply to information furnished prior to enactment. The bill contains an emergency clause.