Some good news for renters

At my first job as a community organizer with Maryland ACORN I organized tenants in a number of apartment complexes all owned by the same slumlord.

It was a good organizing opportunity because just about everyone living there (over a thousand families) had the same problems: vermin, flooding on the 1st floor, lack of repairs, and issues with safety and lighting. Also Maryland has some basic laws protecting renters. These weren't sufficient, but there was at least a limit to what renters were expected to tolerate.

When I got to North Carolina I quickly learned that there were almost no statewide laws protecting renters, and that most of the municipal regulations concerned the buildings themselves rather than the families living inside them.

So, for example, if a renter complained to the city about dangerous electrical wiring in the building, the landlord was permitted to evict the family in order to repair the problem.

Yesterday that changed. North Carolina has enacted what is, in my view, the first set of minimum safety standards for renters! If I understand correctly, Sen. Daniel Clodfelter deserves some credit for this much-needed legislation.

Landlord-tenant bill will promote safer homes for renters across North Carolina

For the first time, North Carolina renters will have comprehensive minimum safety standards for the homes they live in

People living in the nearly 1 million rental units across North Carolina can breathe easier about access to safe housing. A new bill headed to Gov. Beverly Perdue's desk for signature will protect renters against unsafe conditions in apartments and rental homes throughout the state.

"With more and more families moving to rental situations due to foreclosures, these basic protections are critically important now," said Bill Rowe, general counsel with the NC Justice Center, a non-profit organization that backed the legislation. "This bill represents a real step forward for North Carolina's landlord-tenant laws."

The minimum standards put in place by the bill, SB 661, require rentals to have safe wiring, flooring, roofs, and chimneys; access to water; operable locks; operable toilets; sources of heat; no rat infestation due to defects in the building; and no flooding problems.

"This bill sets us toward a path of improving housing stock throughout our state," said Rev. Melvin Whitley, Chair of Northeast Central Durham ACORN, which lobbied for the bill's passage. "For the first time we have a law that sets a minimum housing code for all rental housing, sets a limit of rental fees, and protects the renter from eviction when they complain about housing code violations."

 The bill, which was supported by tenant advocacy groups as well as the the state's largest landlord organization, passed the Senate by a vote of 46-1. Sen. Daniel Clodfelter was the primary sponsor.

North Carolina law regarding housing codes requires that landlords receive a notice from the inspection department when housing code violations are found. SB 661 specifies that this notice sent to landlords regarding housing code violations should tell the landlord to repair the property unless it will cost too much or there is a significant threat of bodily harm present.

 "I believe landlords should be responsible for fixing up these houses," said Candace Davis, a member of ACORN from Durham. "Like with me, the landlord left his property vacant, and when I came, it already had all these problems. I'm glad [the bill] passed that landlords will have to fix up their properties Otherwise, they just  sit there and go to the slums, while the landlord keeps pocketing money and not making any repairs. We don't deserve to live like this, and this bill strengthens our rights as tenants."

 Besides basic safety standards, the bill prevents landlords from charging abusive fees. Some bad-apple landlords charge tenants excessive fees ranging into the hundreds of dollars when eviction cases are filed in court. Until now, North Carolina law placed no limit on such fees.

The new law sets up a system for fees a landlord can charge for taking a tenant to court. This will make sure landlords can be compensated fairly, while making sure such fees are not abused.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Jeff Shaw, North Carolina Justice Center, 919.863.2402 (office)

Bill Rowe, NC Justice Center, 919.856.2177

Michael De Los Santos, Legislative Director, North Carolina ACORN, 919.866.8953

Thanks to years of hard work from ACORN and the NC Justice Center, renters now have a minimum set of rules establishing some basic protections. It's nice to have some good news from the General Assembly.