Legislature(2013 - 2014)CAPITOL 120
03/28/2014 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB235 | |
| HB205 | |
| SB64 | |
| HB282 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 205 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 64 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 282 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 235 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 282-LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT
2:47:23 PM
CHAIR KELLER announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 282, "An Act relating to the rights and
obligations of residential landlords and tenants; and relating
to the taking of a permanent fund dividend for rent and damages
owed to a residential landlord."
2:48:16 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DOUG ISSACSON, Alaska State Legislature, said the
relationship between a landlord and a tenant predates history,
and conflicts arise when either party has unmet expectations.
Most people can describe what a poor landlord is, he said, or
what a great tenant is. But how do you codify this? How do you
put it into law? This is the never-ending bill, because there
have been many amendments, he noted. He told the committee that
he had a program called "Tenant Watch" in the early 1990s. He
had 700 landlords who asked him to help change the law because
there were things that were unfair to them. He said there were
also people asking for help with bad landlords. He took the
issue to Jeannette James, his predecessor, "and we were able to
address this body." He said, "Twenty plus years have evolved,
and this last year, through a series of coincidences, residents
and landlords primarily from my district and then everywhere; I
was like a magnet. My office was a magnet and we attracted
everybody's attention and the state's as well. And so there was
concern that in the intervening time there had been changes that
needed tweaking." He said he is appreciative for the broad
support that HB 282 has had from realtors, landlords, property
managers, and tenant advocacy groups.
2:51:23 PM
BRENDA HEWITT, Staff, Representative Doug Isaacson, Alaska State
Legislature, said the changes in Sections 1-3 and 17 just take
the word "uniform" out of the bill. "We no longer will fit
under what's considered the Uniform Landlord Tenant Act," she
explained. She said that only 21 states have enacted the act,
and they are under revision. "Landlord and tenant" replaced the
word "parties" in Section 4. Sections 5 and 9 deal with pets,
and the bill allows landlords to bump up the amount of deposit
they can put on a residence or dwelling for pet owners. She
said that Section 6 deals with the definition of "normal wear
and tear," and that idea was requested from both landlords and
tenants. Section 7 changes a semi-colon to a period, and it
asks the landlord to separately account for the tenant's prepaid
rent and security deposits. Currently people are required to
put that money in a trust. That money needs to be available
when tenants leave, so if everyone moved out at once, that money
must all be available, she explained.
MS. HEWITT pointed out that Section 8 gives landlords up to 30
days to return a security deposit if there has been damage,
which gives them enough time to assess the damage. Section 9
deals with pet deposits and gets into the definition of service
animals and comfort animals. She said Section 10 requires
tenants and landlords to have a premise condition statement
[prior to the rental]. Section 11 covers "dry cabins" if both
parties agree. In the uniform law, hot running water was
required, but some places in Alaska do not have [plumbing]. She
said that Section 12 allows the landlord to restrict the number
of inhabitants in a dwelling, and there is an amendment
addressing that issue. She noted that Representative Isaacson
is in favor of all four amendments that have been offered.
2:59:16 PM
MS. HEWITT said Section 13 asks the tenant to leave the dwelling
in the same condition [as when the tenant moved in]. If the
carpets had been professionally cleaned, the tenant should be
required to do the same. She said Section 14 is important and
allows victims of domestic violence to be able to leave the
facility with immediacy. The violence needs to have been
reported to the police, she explained.
3:00:18 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT asked about a scenario when the partner of
an individual commits a crime and that person was the
breadwinner. He wondered if that situation would be in the same
vein as a domestic violence situation.
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON said that was a great question, but he
does not believe that such a scenario is covered in HB 282.
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX asked how the law would work if someone
was acquitted of domestic violence after the lease was
terminated. "Would the lease get reinstated?"
3:02:09 PM
MS. HEWITT stated that the perpetrator may still be in the
apartment, but the provision allows the victim out of the
financial requirements.
MS. HEWITT noted that Section 15 allows a landlord to remove a
tenant for illegal activities. For example, if the place is a
crack house, "you can get him out in 24 hours instead of the 14
days it takes now." Section 16 defines transient occupancy, and
there is an amendment before the committee to remove it.
Section 18 deals with the landlord attaching the PFD [Alaska
Permanent Fund] of a tenant who owes money, she said.
REPRESENTATIVE ISSACSON said, "What we're trying to do is create
safe, affordable housing. To do that, you have to give
protections to the landlord to be able to recoup expenses and to
be able to protect the other tenants." Safe and affordable
housing must also protect tenants against abusive landlords, he
added. This is the fallback to tenant-landlord contracts, which
are not disallowed. He stated that the bill establishes a
relationship that is often misunderstood or abused and which may
not even be covered by a contract.
3:04:31 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked about "who gets what back." It
is important to state that if the security deposit is put into
an interest bearing account, the landlord owns the interest-
"otherwise you're giving pennies back to all kinds of people."
He said he is concerned about Section 17 and the relationship
between this and the Uniform Act. At some point, he would like
to know why the Landlord Tenant Act will no longer be uniform
and what will happen if the Uniform Act is updated. He said
"we" regularly look at uniform acts, and "I want to be careful
that we try to see what we can do to keep it uniform," which is
very helpful because of the decisions from states all over the
country. If there are just a few sections that make the act not
uniform, "then most ... will still look at the uniform act,"
which is why he is concerned about the title misleading people.
3:05:49 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ISSACSON said, "This is one of those that legal
[Legislative Legal Affairs] asked us to remove and so they have
the definitive explanation as to why this is not uniform."
CHAIR KELLER noted that SB 64 is a priority in this committee.
He told Representative Isaacson to work out the questions with
the people who raised them, outside of committee. "We'll get
back to [HB 282] as soon as we can," he stated.