“They’re making life fun for us.” That simple phrase was the reaction of a member of our staff upon reading House Bill 2001, a new piece of legislation that came into effect on March 30th, 2023. The bill does the following:
- Changes the 72-Hour Notice to a 10-day Notice;
- Requires the landlord to include this form with the notice;
- Creates a rent assistance fund that may help renters bridge the financial gap and keep them housed;
- Requires landlords to cooperate with rent assistance;
- Extends the date of the trial from the current maximum of 15 days to no earlier than 15 days and no later than 30 days after the first appearance; and,
- Allows the tenant to redeem the tenancy up to the date of the trial.
These new restrictions are a reimplementation of the same measures that were in place during the covid emergency period. Factoring in all the time changes, an eviction could now take up to two months to complete. The bill is set to “sunset” on January 2nd, 2026, but will be extended and made a permanent fixture of landlord-tenant law.
What does this mean for Empire landlords?
In effect, not much. Empire boasts a 0% eviction rate, meaning in over twenty years we have never evicted a tenant we installed in the unit. We do issue a few notices for non-payment every month, but the tenants pay the past-due amount before the notice expires.
The landlord that does their due diligence and properly screens their tenants, will not feel the effects of this bill. All it does is provide a bit more paperwork for us when we do have to issue notices for non-payment.
As always, Happy Landlording!