Arizona Tenants Advocates & Association

EMERGENCY
New Proposed Laws Threaten Tenants


Several new, extremely dangerous laws are wending their way through the legislative process. I only became aware of them several days ago. They have already passed out of the Arizona House of Representatives, and are imminently being heard in the Arizona State Senate, THIS WEDNESDAY, March 14, 2012.

Imagine this:

• If you give your landlord a maintenance request, he is able to come into your rental dwelling without any notice - for the rest of your lease
• If you move out of a rental due to a bedbug infestation, you will be excluded from renting for the next 30 days, and if you do the new landlord can automatically evict you - no matter what
• If you are evicted or even lawfully terminate your lease, or abandon the premises, any of your perishable items, plants and pets that you have left behind can be disposed of by the landlord without accountability
• If you lawfully terminate your lease - even if you have yet to vacate - it is designated an abandonment, you forfeit your security deposit, and the landlord can enter your dwelling without notice
• If you lawfully terminate your lease - even if you have yet to vacate - the landlord can declare that your personal property is of no material value and lock you out - even if you have prepaid rent for the entire month. This will deprive you of being able to clean and repair before you return the keys

All of these are about to take place in July or August, unless you and a thousand other people cry foul TODAY. Please read on for details, and information on what you can do to stop these.

The legislative bills are HB 2127, HB 2128 and HB 2129. Click these links to view their language:

http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=HB2127&Session_ID=107
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/50leg/2r/bills/hb2127h.pdf

http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=HB2128&Session_ID=107
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/50leg/2r/bills/hb2128h.pdf

http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=HB2129&Session_ID=107
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/50leg/2r/bills/hb2129h.pdf

Note that new language on the pdf files is capitalized and colored, deleted is crossed out and colored.

These laws, when enacted this coming July or August, would severely limit the rights of all Arizona residential tenants. They are being heard before the Senate Commerce Committee THIS WEDNESDAY. Unless a huge number of people immediately contact the members of that committee, these laws will likely be approved there.

What can you do? Please email the sponsor of the bills in the Senate, and all members of the Arizona Senate Commerce Committee, telling them why these proposed laws are horrible for tenants. Also telephone. If you are able, you could show up to testify THIS WEDNESDAY, March 14, 2012 at 9.00 a.m., Arizona State Senate, Room SHR 109, 1700 West Washington, Phoenix, 85007. Here are their names and contact information:

Bill Sponsor

Steve Urie surie@azleg.gov
Phone: (602) 926-4136; Fax: (602) 417-3222

Commerce Committee Members

Al Melvin, Chairman amelvin@azleg.gov
Phone: (602) 926-4326; Fax: (602) 417-3159

Gail Griffin, Vice-Chairman ggriffin@azleg.gov
Phone: (602) 926-5895; Fax: (602) 417-3025

Olivia Cajero Bedford ocajerobedford@azleg.gov
Phone: (602) 926-5835; Fax: (602) 417-3027

Robert Meza rmeza@azleg.gov
Phone: (602) 926-3425; Fax: (602) 417-3114

Michele Reagan mreagan@azleg.gov
Phone: (602) 926-5828; Fax: (602) 417-3255

Steve Yarbrough syarbrough@azleg.gov
Phone: (602) 926-5863; Fax: (602) 417-3258

You may have enough to work with above, but if you want more details, here is a synopsis of each bill, with talking points that you can look at as you craft your communications:

HB 2127

Addition to A.R.S. § 33-1361(A)
Landlord's failure to disclose prior bedbug infestation from the last 30 days is designated a material noncompliance. However, the remedy is ineffectual insofar as it is a noncompliance subject to being cured, such as by the owner giving you the notice within the ten-day period. Thus, the tenant can be compelled to honor the lease.

Addition to 33-1368(A)(2)
Tenants must, if asked on the rental application, disclose any prior experience with a bedbug infestation within the last 30 days. If so, you can bid farewell to any chance of living there. If not disclosed, it is a non-curable breach resulting in termination ten days hence.

Addition to 33-1368(E)
Upon a tenant being evicted, no longer is the landlord required to hold all the property for 21 days, but may do whatever he wants with the tenant's perishable items, plants and pets. So, the landlord can steal an entire freezer-full of expensive steaks, take or throw away plants you have tended for years, even your indoor bonsai collection, and you can kiss your pets goodbye. No accountability.

COMMENTS: It is unconscionable to penalize the tenant because his/her last abode was infested. We have helped many tenants terminate due to bedbugs for which the landlord was responsible, and this law would punish them when they have already been victimized. Tenants, under this new law, face the prospect of being homeless for 30 days because landlords will use this law as a basis for not renting to them. Plus, the two elements of this proposed law - the consequences for landlord non-disclosure versus tenant non-disclosure - are not analogous. If they were, then the tenant should be able to terminate as a non-curable breach for the landlord's failure to deliver possession under A.R.S. § 33-1362 with a five-day notice. It is unfair to require that the tenant be evicted, but allow the landlord to cure. As far as taking property after eviction, the proposed law makes legal a landlord's conversion of your personal property.

HB 2128

Addition to A.R.S. § 33-1370(D)
Upon a tenant abandoning the premises, no longer is the landlord required to hold all the personal property (except for items of extremely low value - see A.R.S. § 33-1370(E), final sentence) for ten days , but may do whatever he wants with the tenant's perishable items, plants and pets. So, the landlord can steal an entire freezer-full of expensive steaks, take or throw away plants you have tended for years, even your indoor bonzai collection, and you can kiss your pets goodbye. No accountability.

Addition to A.R.S. § 33-1370(E)
Upon a tenant abandoning the premises, no longer is the landlord required to hold all the personal property (except for items of extremely low value - see A.R.S. § 33-1370(E), final sentence)for ten days , but may do whatever he wants with the tenant's perishable items, plants and pets. So, the landlord can steal an entire freezer-full of expensive steaks, take or throw away plants you have tended for years, even your indoor bonzai collection, and you can kiss your pets goodbye. No accountability.

A.R.S. § 33-1370(H)(3)
This language defines a tenant's lawful termination by proper notice to be abandonment, and also that the security deposit is forfeited (reference A.R.S. § 33-1370(B), final sentence). So, the landlord can, under cloak of the proposed law, disseminate claims that you have abandoned the premises to collections agencies and the like. And your rights to recover your security deposit after lawfully terminating under A.R.S. §§ 33-1318, 33-1331, 33-1361, 33-1362, 33-1366 and 33-1902 are negated - even though these statutes specify that you are so entitled. This proposed subsection says other stuff that is not so bad, the gist being that if you lawfully terminate and return the keys, the landlord may dispose of your personal property left behind.

A.R.S. § 33-1370(H)(4)(a)
This language defines a tenant's lawful termination by proper notice to be abandonment, and that despite your still having the keys, i.e. have not yet vacated and delivered possession, the landlord can thereupon enter your rental premises without any notice in order to determine whether or not there is reasonable evidence you have vacated. So, your right to a two-day notice under A.R.S. § 33-1343 is out the window. Your right to privacy is eliminated. If you leave valuables, money, important papers or pets in the premises, you will have no idea who entered or when, and because of that there can be no accountability for the landlord's actions. Or you may be conducting private activities that are your sole business, and then the landlord barges in. Maybe you mistake the landlord for an intruder, and boom, shoot his head off. Thank you state legislators, for creating a dangerous situation. Also, the security deposit is forfeited (reference A.R.S. § 33-1370(B), final sentence), negating your rights to recover your security deposit after lawfully terminating under A.R.S. §§ 33-1318, 33-1331, 33-1361, 33-1362, 33-1366 and 33-1902 - even though these statutes specify that you are so entitled. Also, the landlord can, under cloak of the proposed law, disseminate claims to collections agencies and the like that you have abandoned the premises.

A.R.S. § 33-1370(H)(4)(b)
This language defines a tenant's lawful termination by proper notice to be abandonment, and that despite your still having the keys, i.e. have not yet vacated and delivered possession, the landlord can thereupon declare whether your personal property remaining in the rental unit is of no material value, and then can lock you out if he "reasonably" determines you have vacated. So, the landlord can, under cloak of the proposed law, disseminate claims to collections agencies and the like that you have abandoned the premises. The fact that you prepaid the full month's rent means nothing, because the landlord can lock you out early anyway when you have done nothing wrong. Anything you left in the premises, intending to remove it before the end of the month, is subject to being stored onsite or elsewhere - and good luck in ever getting it back. Once locked out, you will not be able to go back to clean the premises or make repairs, meaning that the landlord will stick you with these costs (contrary to A.R.S. § 33-1321, which mandates that the landlord has the duty to mitigate alleged damages). Also, the security deposit is forfeited (reference A.R.S. § 33-1370(B), final sentence). And your rights to recover your security deposit after lawfully terminating under A.R.S. §§ 33-1318, 33-1331, 33-1361, 33-1362, 33-1366 and 33-1902 are negated - even though these statutes specify that you are so entitled.

When might it be contemplated that a tenant can terminate now and vacate later? Many circumstances. Such as a flood (A.R.S. § 33-1366), whereby it is mandated that you immediately vacate, but it takes time to remove property, and the law gives tenants 14 days to finalize it. Or if the tenant is a victim of domestic violence, but needs some time to relocate (A.R.S. § 33-1318). Or for landlord 5-day and 10-day notice breaches, which terminate after the cure period but the tenant intends to keep possession until the end of the month in order to finish moving the rest of his/her personal property, and to clean before turning over the keys. Or if the landlord fails to properly register with the county assessor during the ten-day cure period. Or if the landlord fails to provide notice of impending foreclosure (A.R.S. § 33-1331).

COMMENTS: As far as taking property after abandonment (including, now, lawful termination), the proposed law makes legal a landlord's conversion of your personal property, including pets. It distorts a lawful termination to be abandonment, which are incompatible circumstances, and which you can be assured any landlord will use to mischaracterize the tenant as having breached the lease and owes money. Going on your credit? You betcha. Landlords coming in without notice eliminates the right to privacy, jeopardizes the security of your property, and creates the potential for dangerous confrontations. Locking you out deprives you of the ability to repair and maintain the premises before delivering possession to the landlord, and sets the stage for the landlord holding you liable from what you were prevented from addressing.

HB 2129

Addition to A.R.S. § 33-1343(B)
Should a tenant make a service or maintenance request to the landlord, then the landlord can enter the premises without any separate or additional access notices. So, your right to a two-day notice under A.R.S. § 33-1343 is out the window. Your right to privacy is eliminated. If you leave valuables, money, important papers or pets in the premises, you will have no idea who entered or when, and because of that there can be no accountability for the landlord's actions. Or you may be conducting private activities that are your sole business, and then the landlord barges in. Maybe you mistake the landlord for an intruder, and boom, shoot his head off.

Even more chilling is the fact that there is no time cutoff for the landlord coming into your premises without notice. Once you lodge a service or maintenance complaint, the landlord can enter without notice for as long as you reside there.

For all these reasons, this is a major disincentive for tenants to make service or maintenance requests, because it penalizes tenants for doing so. In essence, it is a scheme for landlords to get out of fulfilling their duties to repair and maintain.

COMMENTS: In addition to the above, elimination of the two-day notice period effectively reduces the landlord time for compliance under A.R.S. § 33-1361, so that a five-day notice for repair of health & safety violations becomes a three-day equivalent compliance period, and a ten-day notice for repair of health & safety violations becomes an eight-day notice equivalent compliance period. But there is no such comparable benefit to tenants. If the landlords were concerned about not being able to get in quick enough to resolve issues because of the restrictions from the existing two-day notice period, then the fair way to address that is not to reduce tenants’ rights but instead adding an extra two days, making a five-day into a seven-day notice, and a ten-day into a twelve-day notice. Also, to similarly increase the notice periods demanded upon tenants by landlords (as per A.R.S. § 33-1361).

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