State Senate Democrats delayed a final vote on a bill Tuesday that limits certain restrictions local governments can place on landlords and alters relations between landlords and student renters in Madison.
The bill would allow landlords to deny housing to potential renters based on conviction records, credit and employment history, and income level. Among other provisions, landlords could also show a property at any point during the lease, rather than during a designated viewing period, and charge more than a month’s rent for a security deposit.
Democrats attempted to add several amendments to the bill, such as allowing tenants more time to move out if evicted and preventing police from evicting tenants on observed holidays. However, Republicans rejected every amendment.
On the Senate floor, state Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, called the legislation “the anti-tenant bill” because it strips away provisions that protect those who are at a disadvantage when dealing with landlords, especially students.
“Anybody that has a college in or near their district should think very clearly about what this bill does,” Larson said. “It really stacks the bill against tenants, against particularly students, who usually are not the most informed about when they enter into a tenant agreement.”
Additionally, Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, a former landlord, said the bill does not allow for a significant punishment of landlords who break the law.
Currently, tenants are freed from their leases if their landlords add provisions that are found to be illegal.
Under the new bill, tenants would still be legally bound to their leases, and landlords would only be required to remove the illegal provisions.
“It opens the door to those businesspeople who would be tempted to rip off their…tenants because they can get away with it and the consequences are minimal,” Miller said.
State Sen. Frank Lasee, R-De Pere, the author of the bill, has argued the legislation would allow landlords to conduct background checks to screen for potentially troublesome tenants.
“This bill stops a local government from taking away a landlord’s ability to screen problem tenants – those that don’t pay their bills, that have criminal records or are harmful to their neighbors,” Lasee said in a statement last summer. “Good renters end up paying more or having to move when a bad tenant moves in. This bill will help put an end to these problems for both landlords and good renters.”
The Senate will likely take up the bill again tomorrow.
