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REALTORS® we need YOU! Mark your calendars for this coming Friday so your voice can be heard! We need you to show up and testify at the hearing for SB256 (logistics details below) and share your personal stories of what you have been experiencing as property managers and investors and how those proposed changes would impact your business and ability/willingness to invest in rental properties in Nevada.
Introduced by Senator Cancela, SB256 would make several changes to landlord/tenant law that are of concern for property managers and homeowners. It would:
- Prohibit discrimination in housing on the basis that the income of a person is derived from governmental benefits;
- Prohibit a person from refusing to rent a dwelling in a low-income housing project to an applicant because the applicant has a previous history of an inability to pay rent;
- Allow a tenant to request an initial inspection before move out in order to allow the tenant to remedy any deficiency that may otherwise cause a deduction in the security deposit;
- Allow the tenant to request a final inspection within 3 days of move out and receive a statement of any deficiencies;
- Require the return of the security deposit within 14 days (instead of the current 30) or within 5 days of the final inspection, whichever is earlier;
- Authorize a landlord to charge a reasonable late fee for late payment of rent, but not before 3 days after rent is due and the fee may not be higher than 5% of periodic rent;
- Allow a tenant to recover damages for the landlord failing to maintain the unit in habitable condition without the usual notice if the tenant can prove to the court that the landlord had actual knowledge of the condition;
- Allow a tenant seeking to recover damages in those circumstances may raise a defense to an eviction without depositing the withheld rent in an escrow account;
- Authorize the tenant to recover immediate possession, terminate the lease and recover damages if a landlord abuses the right to access the unit or uses that right to harass the tenant;
- Require the landlord, during the 5-day period following the eviction or lockout, to provide the former tenant the opportunity to retrieve essential personal effects;
- Establish an expedited procedure for the former tenant to retrieve essential personal effects if the landlord acts unreasonably in providing access;
- Remove late fees from the definition of rent and prohibit a landlord from refusing to accept rent if the refusal is based on the fact that the tenant has not paid any amount that does not constitute rent.
We anticipate that the hearing for SB256 will be in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on Friday, March 22, at 1:30 pm. You can testify in Carson City at the Legislative Building, 401 S Carson St, Carson City, NV, in room 2135, or in Las Vegas at the Grant Sawyer Building (room tbd), 555 E Washington Ave, Las Vegas, NV. Please reply to this email if you would like guidelines on how to testify effectively in front of the Legislature.
You can also express your opposition to SB256 online, you can do so easily by visiting https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Opinions/80th2019/ and selecting SB256. |
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