Legislative Session - Final Legislative Update - Mar 6, 23
LEGISLATIVE SESSION 2023
FINAL UPDATE
The legislature has ended! We had a good session overall. For more info see the final tracking sheet. Following is a summary of what happened:
Domestic Violence – There is an update to state statute on ease release for DV victims. Look for more info on this in upcoming weeks but the main changes are there will be more acceptable types of court orders to trigger release, and instead of a 45 day fee the fee will be 30 days with the tenant having to be out at least 15 days before the date of notice so there is time to turn the unit.
HOAs – HOA’s that allow 35% of the complex to be rentals will be able to charge a $250 admin fee to rental owners. We anticipate most owners will pass on this fee and tying fees to allowing more rental units is a something we hope creates more housing affordability supply.
Evictions – No changes were made. Efforts to remove the consequences that make evictions rare and have reduced evictions by 50% over the last decade were not successful.
Collections/Garnishments – Efforts to change the collection/garnishment process were deferred a year so all stakeholders can work together to find ways to make best practices on communications and try to avoid collections/garnishments.
Rent increase notice – The law was unchanged and 30 days in the law in most cases. We encourage owners to give as much notice of rent increase as possible. A bill that would have required 90 days’ notice failed 2-11.
Section 8 Guarantee Fund – We were able to procure $600,000 for this fund that pays up to $5,000 of damages for renters on section 8. As a reminder, state law requires you work with section 8 voucher holders if they meet all your other requirements (besides income). This fund offsets some of the risk.
Thanks for all the help we received and to the legislature for listening to our concerns and making only balanced changes this year (the best kind).