Latest news with #TenantEmpowermentPackage
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Michigan Senate Committee clears renters rights bills
Michigan Capitol | Susan J. Demas Bills mandating 48-hour response times for landlords to address hazardous conditions in rental properties and requirements for 90-day notice for rent increases were voted through a Michigan legislative committee Tuesday. Lawmakers on the Senate Housing and Human Services Committee heard testimony earlier this month from tenants, advocacy groups and property owner stakeholders on the Tenant Empowerment Package, which aims to empower those residing in the state's more than one million renter-occupied units. Property owners would be required to respond within 48 hours to notice from renters that there is a need for safety-related repairs under Senate Bills 19 and 20. If the property owner doesn't respond to being notified of the defective condition on the rental property premises, the renter could withhold rent or get the repair started themselves and deduct the cost of the repair from their rent. When it comes towards the end of a person's lease, if a landlord plans on increasing the rent, that landlord would have to provide current leasees a 90-day notice of the increase under Senate Bill 21. Senate Bills 19 through 20 passed a committee vote along party lines without support from Republican members Tuesday. Senate Bill 22, which would permit landlords to return security deposits electronically, passed through the committee unanimously. All four bills will now move to the Senate floor for a vote by the chamber. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate panel advances 'right to repair' bills for property renters in Michigan
Lawmakers in the Michigan Senate are eyeing a change to the state's housing laws, including giving renters in the state more power to take repairing faulty appliances and poor conditions at leased properties into their own hands. Senate Bills 19 and 20, introduced by Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, would require landlords to commence repairs on defective appliances and hazardous conditions under set timelines. If the property lessor or licensors don't make the repairs in the required time under the proposal, renters would be able to withhold rent until the repairs are made or commence repairs themselves and deduct the costs from their rent payments. The bills are part of a four-bill package, called the 'Tenant Empowerment Package' by Anthony, approved by the Senate Housing and Human Services Committee on June 10. The measures now move to the full Senate floor for a potential vote. Michigan faces a rising crisis of housing access and affordability, Anthony said, and the goal of the legislation is to ensure that housing that is available to tenants remains safe. 'Whether you live in a rural township (or) a city neighborhood, families across Michigan are struggling to find and keep safe, affordable, quality places to live,' Anthony said during a June 3 committee hearing on the legislation. Under the legislation, landlords would have 48 hours after being notified to commence repairs on any defective condition considered hazardous to the life or the health and safety of a tenant, 72 hours to address mold or pests found in a unit and 30 days for repairs in other cases. If repairs aren't made under the timelines, renters would be able to deposit their rent into an escrow account and withhold it from a landlord until repairs are made. Under current state law, provisions already exist for renters to place rent payments in escrow but the Tenant Empowerment Package would create clear timelines for repairs to begin, whereas current law states landlords have to make repairs in a "reasonable" time. Should a tenant decide to take repairs into his or her own hands, he or she would be required to obtain at least three free written cost estimates from a licensed contractor for the fix, provide the landlord with the estimates and give the landlord 24 hours to start repairs before doing it themselves. Elsewhere in the legislative package, Senate Bill 21 would set a 90-day notice requirement for landlords to inform tenants their annual rent would increase if their lease was renewed, an increase on the current 30-day notice requirement. Senate Bill 22 would allow security deposits to be able to be returned through electronic transfer. Two groups representing rental property owners, the Rental Property Owners Association (RPOA) of Michigan and Michigan Realtors, indicated opposition to Senate Bills 19-21. Anthony and other Senate Democrats previously introduced a version of the Tenant Empowerment Package last year, as well, although certain parts of the bills have been tweaked, including giving landlords slightly more time to start repair work. 'While these bills aim to bring greater balance and accountability to the housing system, they were crafted with a clear understanding of the realities landlords face,' Anthony said June 3. Erika Farley, RPOA executive director, said the organization appreciates the changes under the current version of the bills. Still, Farley said the repair timelines set under the bills may not be achievable for all landlords, particularly considering availability of contractors or tradesmen. "We fully support well-taken care of, healthy, safe housing," Farley said in a June 10 interview. "When we look at this legislation and other legislation that has to do with rental housing, we also have to talk about are we taking a hatchet where there needs to be a scalpel? Are we making sweeping, broad brushstrokes for everyone where there are different scenarios." Right to repair laws exist beyond housing — the measures allow owners of electronics, agricultural equipment and even some automobiles to repair their products without needing to go back to the original manufacturer. In 2023, right to repair legislation was considered in 33 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In order to become law, the bills would have to pass both the Senate and House of Representatives and be signed into law by the governor. A version of Senate Bill 22 passed the Senate last year, but was not taken up in the House before the end of the session. Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Right to repair bills for renters advance Michigan Senate panel
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Michigan bills would require landlords to do repairs within 48 hours or renters can withhold rent
Getty Images Renters in Michigan would be permitted to withhold rent or have the cost of repairs deducted from their rent if landlords don't make timely safety-related repairs under bills being considered by the Michigan Senate. Lansing, where the State Capitol Building is located, is the backdrop to more than 700 red-tagged homes, meaning they have been deemed by the city as uninhabitable, Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) told lawmakers on the Senate Housing and Human Services Committee last week. Residents are being forced from their homes, bearing the financial burden of finding new rentals or short-term hotel stays due to issues that could have been resolved if their landlord had acted, Anthony added. 'We're here because we all know and we hear about Michigan's housing crisis, and we're hitting a critical point,' Anthony said. 'And whether you live in a rural township, a city or neighborhood, families across our state are struggling to find and keep safe, affordable and quality places to live.' Senate Bills 19 and 20 of the Tenant Empowerment Package seek to mandate property owners respond to notifications from their lessees of defective conditions on the premises of their residence within 48 hours. If the property owner does not commence repairs to the issue posing a hazard to residents, under the legislation, renters could withhold rent or get the issue repaired and deduct the repair from the rent. Michigan's housing stock is old and in critical need of repair if families are going to have healthy and affordable housing opportunities in the state, Julie Cassidy, Michigan League for Public Policy's senior policy analyst, told lawmakers at the committee meeting. Research from the University of Michigan and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority last year found that 61% of Michigan's housing units were constructed prior to 1980, around the time lead-based paint was banned in homes as it posed health risks, most of all for children. Additionally, the 2024 Michigan State Housing Needs assessment, also collaborated on by the two entities, determined there are more than 1 million renter-occupied units in Michigan. Too many residents in Michigan live in homes with serious health and safety issues that require timely response from landlords, but those issues are not being addressed, Cassidy said. 'Many landlords do operate with ethics and care for their tenants, but the law must be strengthened to empower families whose landlords don't meet their legal obligation to maintain basic standards of health and safety,' Cassidy said. There needs to be a shift in how Michigan thinks and addresses the needs of renters, MI Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition Coordinator, William Lawrence said. Despite societal perceptions of renters, many tenants would like to view the places they rent as homes, Lawrence said. That means homes where they can raise a family, establish their career and invest in the community. The inability to access repairs or perform them themselves leaves tenants feeling 'trapped' and distances them from investing in areas that don't feel like home, Lawrence said. 'When one is empowered to make necessary repairs to improve your surroundings, it deepens your commitment to that place. It deepens your commitment to the neighborhood,' Lawrence said. 'And when tenants are allowed to take responsibility for the places they live, the property owners at that property and in the neighborhood also benefit and our city's benefit because the right to repair goes a long way towards abating the pink and red tag crisis, which is so severe here in Lansing, and other communities around the state.' Other bills in the package aim to empower tenants in other ways, Anthony told lawmakers last week. Senate Bill 21 would require that if a landlord offers lease renewal to a current tenant and plans on increasing the rent, the landlord would have to alert the tenant to the increase at least 90 days before the end of the lease. Senate Bill 22 would allow landlords to return security deposits to tenants electronically as opposed to a check. While Erika Farley, executive director for the Rental Property Owners Association of Michigan, said they support Senate Bill 22 for providing electronic options renters may prefer over paper checks, the association opposes the rest of the package. However, Farley thanked Anthony for including the association in talks surrounding the bills. 'We as an association support that all the properties, these are homes for people, this is where they live, that they're being kept up and they're being taken care of in the way that they're supposed to,' Farley said. 'At this time, we are opposed, but we are continuing to work with the sponsor and thank her for her help.' The package of bills is scheduled to be back before the committee on Tuesday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
