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

Introduced By

Del. Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax Station) with support from 8 copatrons, whose average partisan position is:

Those copatrons are Del. Josh Cole (D-Stafford), Del. Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg), Del. Kelly Fowler (D-Virginia Beach), Del. Nancy Guy (D-Virginia Beach), Del. Cliff Hayes (D-Chesapeake), Del. Clinton Jenkins (D-Suffolk), Del. Kathleen Murphy (D-McLean), Del. Cia Price (D-Newport News)

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

04/19/2021: Awaiting a Vote in the General Laws and Technology Committee

History

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