Tenant screening bill in trouble
By Cydney Gillis
A state bill that would allow people seeking rental housing to pay one fee and use the same credit or screening report for 60 days, instead of paying $25 to $35 to each prospective landlord, appears dead for the second year in a row after running into strong opposition Tuesday at public hearing.
Rep. Tina Orwall (D-Des Moines) told members of the House Committee on Financial Institutions & Insurance that she sponsored House Bill 2622 to reduce costs for the poor and allow people to get a copy of their report so they can address any information on unlawful detainers – the first court papers a landlord files to evict a tenant. Many tenants, especially those forced out of a rental home by a landlord’s foreclosure, don’t even know they have one on their record, she said.
For women who have fled domestic violence and may be on welfare or living in a shelter, paying up to $40 a report three or four times is just not possible, said Ruqayyah Sabir of the Domestic Abuse Women’s Network.
Landlords and screening agents said it’s already illegal to deny victims of domestic violence housing and that the bill goes too far. Even no-fault car accidents are used by insurance companies to set rates, said Julie Johnson, president of the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound, and it should be the same with eviction filings. “Landlords do not go down to the courthouse willy-nilly to file unlawful detainers,” she said: they have good reason.
“I think there are a number of issues” with the bill, committee Chair Steve Kirby (D-Tacoma) said, that’s “going to make it a little bit tough” to pass. The committee may vote on the bill tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.
Comments
By Fat-tailed on January 20th, 2010 at 9:39 am
I’m confused — are you using the phrase “in trouble” to mean “has opposition”? If so, every bill could be described as “in trouble”, no?
By Sarajane Siegfriedt on January 22nd, 2010 at 8:25 pm
In Olympia Monday for the Poverty Summit, a woman told me of being evicted while in a shelter for domestic violence. She never realized she had been evicted and had no idea why she was being repeatedly rejected. In other words, without the ability to clear your record, this will continue.
More commercial multi-family properties are going belly-up this year. Some landlords continue to collect rent and tenants receive only a 3-day notice. They have an unfair eviction on their records, although they were good tenants and always paid on time. A false eviction on your record is far worse than a no-fault accident and there is no “high-risk” insurance pool to apply to for an apartment. The comparison with auto insurance is false.