This year, the House of Representatives passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, which came with some important changes for tenants and landlords. Over the past 25 years or so, thousands of towns and cities over the country have enacted local ordinances that penalize both tenants and landlords for repeated police or emergency services calls to the same residence; new changes to the VAWA provide protection for landlords and tenants and come with some new requirements for landlords. Read on to learn more about how these changes will affect you and your tenants.
An Overview of Nuisance Ordinances
Nuisance ordinances (also called “disorderly house ordinances” or “crime-free ordinances”) were designed to designate properties where multiple 911 calls or specific types of behavior (domestic violence, assault, harassment, stalking or disorderly conduct) as a disruptive property. These laws still applied regardless of whether the tenant themselves was a perpetrator of such behavior or a victim of it who was truly in need of emergency services. Once being cited, the property owners were expected to take action to prevent further behavior or face steep penalties.
While these ordinances were originally enacted in the 1980s to prevent and penalize troublesome behavior related to drug-related activities in communities, they’ve continued to spread throughout large cities and suburban towns and directly impact women and dependents suffering from domestic abuse. These ordinances put abused women in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation; many who suffer from abuse put in multiple calls to emergency services, but with such ordinances in place, abuse victims must choose between losing their homes or suffering in silence.
Some of the penalties to landlords may have included fines, revocation of required permits, or even condemnation of their property, regardless of why their tenants were seeking emergency assistance. In many cases, landlords have chosen to evict their tenants, refuse to renew their lease, or even instructed their tenants not to call 911. Not only have these ordinances been unfair to tenants, but they’ve also put pressure on landlords to evict tenants they would otherwise like to keep.
What Landlords Need to Know
The newly revised VAWA recognizes the right of both victims and landlords to report emergencies from their property and protects them from being penalized for requesting law enforcement or emergency service assistance. Under the newly revised Act, landlords who accept Section 8 or other government-subsidized housing tenants must provide all new applicants and existing tenants with a copy of the Notice of Occupancy Rights.
This document states that victims of domestic abuse cannot be denied assistance as an applicant, or have their subsidized housing terminated due to being a victim of domestic violence, which includes dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or for being affiliated with a person who experienced any of these. Additionally, survivors of abuse and their dependents may also be granted emergency transfers to a safe unit if their current residence presents concerns for their safety.
In some cases, perpetrators of domestic violence have been known to acquire credit cards in the victim’s name with the intent of ruining their credit score or have inflicted damage on the victim’s property to affect their rental status or history. Other victims have been manipulated or forced into engaging in illegal activities and have been arrested as a result.
To counter such scenarios, the revised VAWA prohibits landlords from denying tenancy or occupancy rights based on any factors that relate to being a victim of domestic abuse. It’s not uncommon for abuse survivors to need a new residence immediately for their safety; due to this, HUD has now determined they can self-certify to qualify for protection under the new VAWA, eliminating delays caused by the need to wait for a third party to provide documentation.
All VAWA-related forms have been made available for download at HUDClips to make compliance easier for landlords and property managers.
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