Rental Services, Inc. 2019 February Newsletter


The 2019 legislative session has started and depending on which state you conduct business in, there is a lot going on. Many local governments have started to introduce bills that may negatively impact the multi-family housing industry.


Colorado has introduced two bills with a third one on the way. 

Colorado House Bill 19-1118 addresses the time period to cure a lease violation. 

The current law requires a landlord to give the tenant 3 days to cure a lease violation. The most common violation is failure to pay rent. When the tenant violates the lease agreement, you post them with a 3-day notice. If they don’t pay within the 3-day time frame the eviction process is started.

HB 19-1118 would change the 3-day rule to 14 days. 

Depending on the lease agreement many landlords don’t post a 3-day notice until the 4th of the month. This puts them at a higher financial risk if this new law passes. The new time frame puts the landlord towards the end of the month before even sending the 3-day notice to an attorney. This could cause the landlord to lose out on two or more months of rent.

Colorado House Bill 19-1106 deals with the rental application process for prospective tenants.

HB 19-1106, if passed will only allow the landlord to charge a background screening fee if all the money is used to cover the cost of the background check. The application fee won’t be able to be used as a secondary source of income.

It will require a landlord to charge the same background screening fee to each applicant. This may seem like common sense but its been brought to my attention that landlords have used this to discourage an applicant. I would think this could be addressed with a Fair Housing claim by the applicant vs. a new law.

Landlords will be required to provide rental criteria to an applicant before they apply with a 7-year limit on verifying information.

Landlords will be required to give the applicant written notice explaining why they were denied. 

Oregon Senate Bill 608 targets establishing rent control limits on landlords.

SB 608 will limit rent increases to 7% above annual change in consumer price index and require the Oregon Department of Administrative services to publish max annual rental increases. Rent increases will only be allowed to take place once per year. 

It prohibits landlords from terminating a month to month lease after 12 months without cause. If a landlord chooses to terminate a month to month lease, they must give a 90-day notice and pay the tenant one months rent. 

It is recommended that everyone pay attention to your state specific legal issues, if you don’t pay attention you could end up with new laws that negatively impact your business.

Visit the RSI Blog for more details about the for mentioned bills or let us know about a legal issue in your state.  Share your thoughts with others on the RSI Facebook page.

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