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.