Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; noncompliance with rental agreement, etc. (HB1908)

Introduced By

Del. Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax Station) with support from co-patrons Del. Kelly Fowler (D-Virginia Beach), Del. Nancy Guy (D-Virginia Beach), and Del. Cliff Hayes (D-Chesapeake)

Progress

✓	Introduced
✓	Passed Committee
✓	Passed House
☐	Passed Senate
☐	Signed by Governor
☐	Became Law

Description

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; noncompliance with rental agreement; prohibition on using negative credit information that arose during a closure of the United States Government against certain applicants for tenancy; penalty. Prohibits a landlord who owns more than four rental dwelling units or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling units in the Commonwealth from taking any adverse action against an applicant for tenancy based solely on payment history or an eviction for nonpayment of rent that occurred during a closure of the United States government when such applicant was a directly affected individual, defined as an individual who was furloughed or otherwise did not receive payments as a result of a closure of the United States government and was (i) an employee of the United States government, (ii) an independent contractor of the United States government, or (iii) an employee of a company under contract with the United States government. If such a landlord denies an applicant for tenancy, the bill requires the landlord to provide the applicant written notice of the denial and of the applicant's right to assert that his failure to qualify was based solely on payment history or an eviction based on nonpayment of rent that occurred during the proscribed period when such applicant was a directly affected individual. If a landlord does receive a response from the applicant asserting such a right, and the landlord relied upon a consumer or tenant screening report, the landlord must make a good faith effort to contact the generator of the report to ascertain whether such determination was due solely to the applicant for tenancy's payment history or an eviction for nonpayment that occurred during the proscribed period and that such applicant was a directly affected individual. The bill permits an applicant for tenancy to recover damages of up to $1,000, along with attorney fees, from landlords who do not comply with these requirements. Read the Bill »

Status

01/20/2021: In Committee

History

Date	Action
01/09/2021	Committee
01/09/2021	Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/13/21 21101428D
01/09/2021	Referred to Committee on General Laws
01/14/2021	Reported from General Laws (14-Y 7-N) (see vote tally)
01/15/2021	Read first time
01/18/2021	Read second time and engrossed
01/19/2021	Impact statement from DPB (HB1908)
01/19/2021	Read third time and passed House (57-Y 42-N)
01/19/2021	VOTE: Passage (57-Y 42-N) (see vote tally)
01/20/2021	Constitutional reading dispensed
01/20/2021	Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology