Delaware House Bill 191

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)
Status: Engrossed on June 29 2023 - 50% progression
Action: 2023-06-29 - Assigned to Housing & Land Use Committee in Senate
Pending: Senate Housing & Land Use Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #2) [HTML]

This substitute bill provides more clarity on the process by which a tenant may file an action in the Justice of the Peace Court to withhold rent payments in escrow. Specifically, the bill provides what the tenant must file in order to bring such action and how such actions proceed in court. This substitute bill also provides the remedy of termination of lease when the conditions of the rental unit threatens the life, health, or safety of the tenant or a member of the tenants household. This substitute bill also clarifies the appeal process for actions to withhold rent payments in escrow. This substitute bill also provides a tenant the right to raise as an affirmative defense to an action for summary possession filed by the landlord that a condition exists that threatens the life, health, or safety of the tenant or a member of the tenants household if the tenant satisfies specific requirements. If the Court determines that the tenant has satisfied those requirements, the Court may order that in lieu of summary possession, the tenant pay all base monthly rent owed to the landlord to an escrow account established by the Court. The Court may order the landlord to remedy the conditions alleged by a specific date. If both the landlord and tenant comply with the Courts order, the amount held in escrow will be paid to the landlord within 30 days, and no judgment for possession shall be entered. Finally, this substitute bill provides that the Act will take effect 180 days after its enactment into law in order to provide the Justice of the Peace Court sufficient time to enact rules to implement the Act.

An Act To Amend Title 25 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Landlord Tenant Code.

Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker [D]	Sen. Marie Pinkney [D]	Rep. Larry Lambert [D]	Rep. Valerie Longhurst [D]
Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown [D]	Rep. William Bush [D]	Rep. Kerri Harris [D]	Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton [D]

2023-06-29 - House - House Third Reading (Y: 22 N: 1 NV: 2 Abs: 16) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2023-06-29		Assigned to Housing & Land Use Committee in Senate
2023-06-29		Passed By House. Votes: 22 YES 1 NO 2 NOT VOTING 16 ABSENT
2023-06-29		Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
2023-06-28		Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2023-06-21		Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 5 On Its Merits
2023-06-15		Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House
2023-06-15		Reported Out of Committee (Housing) in House with 6 Favorable, 1 On Its Merits
2023-06-08		Adopted in lieu of the original bill HB 191, and Assigned to Housing Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=140564
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=140508&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB191
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=140564&legislationTypeId=6&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HS1forHB191
Roll Call	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/RollCall/GetRollCallVoteByRollCallId#55030