Issue: Housing

The Alabama Senate voted 28-0 Thursday for a bill that would adjust some deadlines in the state’s landlord-tenant law in favor of property owners. SB 291, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, goes to the House.

Current state law requires landlords to provide tenants with a 14-day written notice if they plan to terminate the lease for a violation that does not involve failure to pay rent. SB 291 would halve that timeframe to seven days. The notice period to terminate a lease for failure to pay rent would remain at the current seven days.

Landlords could treat a property as abandoned if electrical service is cut off for at least a week under SB 291. The bill also would give landlords 60 days to refund a tenant’s security deposit or give notice of why they are keeping some or all of it, nearly doubling the current 35-day window.

The original proposal would have offered tenants no right to correct, or “cure,” problems cited as a lease violation unless the landlord gave express written consent. A Senate committee last month amended that provision to give renters two chances every 12 months to correct such problems. The Senate increased that to four chances Thursday by adopting an amendment offered by Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham.

Names of execution drug suppliers would be confidential under House-approved bill

The names of companies that provide Alabama with the drugs it uses to perform lethal injections would remain confidential under a bill that the state House passed 77-19 Thursday. HB 379, sponsored by Rep. Lynn Greer, R-Rogersville, goes to the Senate.

Greer’s bill also would shield the identity of anyone who participates in a state-sanctioned execution or performs any ancillary function related to one. Click here to read the Associated Press’ report on the House’s action.

Alabama House passes bill on redistribution of unused HIV drugs

Pharmacies that dispense HIV medications for or in HIV clinics could redistribute certain unopened drugs under a bill that the Alabama House passed 99-0 Wednesday. HB 138, sponsored by Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, goes to the Senate.

HIV clinics now must destroy unopened medications if patients do not show up for treatment. Todd’s bill would allow pharmacies to redispense the drugs to other patients and would set controls on handling and oversight of the drugs. Arise and other consumer advocates last year urged Gov. Robert Bentley to support this policy change as his Medicaid Pharmacy Study Commission met to look at ways to reduce costs in the state’s Medicaid drug assistance programs.

Lawmakers will return Tuesday for the 23rd of 30 allowable meeting days during the 2014 regular session, which is expected to last until early April.

By Chris Sanders, communications director. Posted March 7, 2014.

A state Senate committee somewhat softened a set of proposed changes to Alabama’s landlord-tenant law Thursday. The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee approved a substitute version of SB 291, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston. The bill now goes to the full Senate.

Marsh’s original bill would have rewritten numerous parts of the state’s 2006 landlord-tenant law in favor of property owners. The committee’s changes would substantially reduce the bill’s impact on the half-million Alabamians who rent their lodgings.

The two biggest changes involve giving renters a second chance to correct mistakes before landlords can seek to evict them. Marsh’s original proposal offered tenants no right to correct, or “cure,” problems cited as a lease violation unless the landlord gave express written consent. The committee substitute would ease this “zero tolerance” provision by giving renters two chances within a 12-month period to correct such problems.

Marsh’s original bill also said any termination of electrical service to the dwelling would constitute legal abandonment of the property and allow landlords to evict tenants. The committee version would require electrical service to be disconnected for a full week before the property could be considered abandoned.

Other parts of the bill remained unchanged, however, including several portions that would adjust deadlines in favor of landlords. For example, a landlord now has 35 days to refund a tenant’s security deposit or give notice of why they are keeping all or part of the deposit. SB 291 would nearly double that time to 60 days.

Current law requires landlords to provide tenants with a 14-day written notice if they plan to terminate the lease over a violation that does not involve failure to pay rent. SB 291 would halve that timeframe to seven days. Marsh’s original bill would have cut the notice period to terminate over failure to pay rent down to four days, but it would remain at the current seven days under the committee version.

HB 523, sponsored by Rep. Paul Beckman, R-Prattville, is an identical House bill that reflects the Senate committee’s changes. That measure awaits consideration in the House Commerce and Small Business Committee. Lawmakers will return Tuesday for the 17th of 30 allowable meeting days during the 2014 regular session, which is expected to last until early April.

By Stephen Stetson, policy analyst. Posted Feb. 21, 2014.

Renting an apartment or a house can involve a lot of challenges, ranging from security deposits and fees to potentially cantankerous neighbors or landlords. But life for Alabama renters could get a lot more difficult if the Legislature passes SB 291, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston.

The bill is the second major attack on renter protections in Alabama in recent years, ACPP executive director Kimble Forrister said. The Legislature in 2011 passed provisions weakening renter protections in the landlord-tenant act.

“The 2006 landlord-tenant law clearly laid out a balanced set of protections for both sides of the rental relationship,” Forrister said. “Now, as if renters didn’t have a hard enough time, another bill would tilt the scales in favor of those who own rental properties and undermine important safeguards for renters.”

One of the most onerous parts of the bill for tenants could be the provision limiting their right to correct a problem cited by the landlord as a lease violation. In legal terms, this right is known as the right to “cure” the breach of the lease contract. For example, if a lease forbids a tenant from having a pet, the tenant could give the pet away and return to compliance with the lease terms. Under SB 291, a tenant would have no right to correct a problem unless the landlord gives express written consent.

The proposal also would shorten a set of deadlines governing the rental relationship. For example, current state law requires landlords to provide tenants with a 14-day written notice to terminate a lease for violations that do not involve failure to pay rent. SB 291 would shorten that notice period to seven days. If the tenant fails to pay rent, the law now requires landlords to give seven days’ notice before termination. SB 291 would reduce that time to a mere four days.

Another “zero tolerance” component of the plan is a provision that says any termination of electrical service to the property equals abandonment of the premises. If a tenant misses a payment to the power company and has service cut off even once, the bill would allow a landlord to declare the property officially abandoned, change the locks and put the renters’ possessions out on the street.

The bill adjusts other deadlines in favor of the landlord, too. For example, landlords now have 35 days to return security deposits to departing renters or provide notice of why they are keeping all or part of the deposit. SB 291 would allow landlords to hold onto a renter’s deposit for up to 60 days before returning it.

A coalition of organizations including ACPP and the Low Income Housing Coalition of Alabama is mobilizing to draw public attention to SB 291’s effects on low-income renters. But with powerful supporters backing the bill, advocates may have a tough fight on their hands.

By Stephen Stetson, policy analyst. Posted Feb. 4, 2014.