Delaware House Bill 477 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: Introduced on June 10 2022 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2022-06-28 - Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House
Pending: House Appropriations Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

It is the policy of this State that meaningful sanctions be imposed upon those who allow dangerous conditions and defects to exist in leased premises and that an effective mechanism be established for repairing these conditions and halting their creation. This Act allows tenants to bring an action of rent escrow to pay rent into the court because of asserted defects or conditions. Alternatively, the tenant may refuse to pay rent and raise the existence of the asserted defects or conditions as an affirmative defense to an action for summary possession or an action for nonpayment of rent. This Act requires the tenant to give proper notice and allow the landlord the opportunity to effect repairs. This Act requires the court to make appropriate findings of fact and to make any order that justice of the case may require, which may include termination of the lease and return of the leased premises to the landlord, order that the action for rent escrow be dismissed, order that the amount of rent be reduced in amount determined by the court to be fair and equitable, or order the landlord to make the repairs or correct the conditions complained of by the tenant.

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

Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker [D]

Sen. Darius Brown [D]

Rep. Larry Lambert [D]

Rep. Valerie Longhurst [D]

Date	Chamber	Action
2022-06-28		Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House
2022-06-24		Amendment HA 1 to HB 477 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2022-06-22		Reported Out of Committee (Housing & Community Affairs) in House with 3 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits
2022-06-10		Introduced and Assigned to Housing & Community Affairs Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=129684
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=129684&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB477