Bill Text: IA HSB253 | 2021-2022 | 89th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to landlords and tenants, including service animal requirements, rent late fees, forcible entry and detainer property disposal, and peaceable possession, and including applicability provisions.(See HF 843, HF 866.)

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-08 - Committee report approving bill, renumbered as HF 866. [HSB253 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2021-HSB253-Introduced.html

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House Study Bill 253 - Introduced
HOUSE FILE _____
BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE
ON JUDICIARY BILL BY
CHAIRPERSON HOLT)
A BILL FOR
An Act relating to landlords and tenants, including service
animal requirements, rent late fees, forcible entry and
detainer property disposal, and peaceable possession, and
including applicability provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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Section 1. Section 216.8C, Code 2021, is amended by adding
the following new subsection:
NEW SUBSECTION . 7. A request for accommodation made by
a person under this section must be reasonable under the
circumstances. A landlord may make other accommodations to the
person making the request including but not limited to offering
to relocate the person to another housing unit managed by the
landlord.
Sec. 2. Section 562A.9, subsection 4, Code 2021, is amended
to read as follows:
4. For rental agreements in which the rent does not exceed
seven hundred dollars per month, a rental agreement shall not
provide for a late fee that exceeds twelve dollars per day or a
total amount of sixty dollars per month. For rental agreements
in which the rent is greater than seven hundred dollars per
month but less than one thousand four hundred dollars per
month , a rental agreement shall not provide for a late fee
that exceeds twenty dollars per day or a total amount of one
hundred dollars per month. For rental agreements in which the
rent is at least one thousand four hundred dollars per month, a
rental agreement shall not provide for a late fee that exceeds
two percent of the rent per day or ten percent of the rent per
month.
Sec. 3. Section 562A.11, subsection 2, Code 2021, is amended
to read as follows:
2. A provision prohibited by subsection 1 included in a
rental agreement is unenforceable. If a landlord willfully
uses enforces provisions in a rental agreement containing
provisions known by the landlord to be prohibited, a tenant may
recover actual damages sustained by the tenant and not more
than three months’ periodic rent and reasonable attorney fees.
Sec. 4. Section 648.18, Code 2021, is amended to read as
follows:
648.18 Possession —— bar.
Thirty days’ peaceable possession with the knowledge of the
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H.F. _____
plaintiff after the cause of action accrues is a bar to this
proceeding. However, this section does not apply to a landlord
that notifies a tenant in a writing of a breach of a financial
obligation under a rental agreement entered into under chapter
562A and the landlord’s intent to enforce such provision.
Sec. 5. Section 648.22, Code 2021, is amended to read as
follows:
648.22 Judgment —— execution —— costs —— disposal of personal
property .
1. If the defendant is found guilty, judgment shall be
entered that the defendant be removed from the premises, and
that the plaintiff be put in possession of the premises, and
an execution for the defendant’s removal within three days
from the judgment shall issue accordingly, to which shall be
added a clause commanding the officer to collect the costs as
in ordinary cases.
2. Any personal property of the defendant remaining on the
plaintiff’s real property after the defendant’s removal under
this section may be disposed of by the plaintiff.
Sec. 6. APPLICABILITY. The following applies to rental
agreements whose lease terms begin on or after January 1, 2022:
The section of this Act amending section 562A.9.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
This bill relates to landlord-tenant law. The bill provides
that the request of a person for an accommodation of a service
animal must be reasonable under the circumstances and that the
landlord can accommodate the person by relocating the person to
another housing unit managed by the landlord.
The bill provides that for rental agreements where rent is
more than $700 but less than $1,400 per month, late fees shall
not exceed $20 per month. Late fees for rental agreements
where rent is at least $1,400 or more per month shall not
exceed 2 percent of the rent per day or 10 percent of the
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H.F. _____
rent per month. This provision of the bill applies to rental
agreements whose lease terms begin on or after January 1, 2022.
The bill provides that if a landlord willfully enforces
provisions prohibited by Code section 562A.11(1) in a rental
agreement, the tenant may recover actual damages. Under
current law, a tenant may recover actual damages if the
landlord willfully uses prohibited provisions.
The bill provides that any personal property left on the
landlord’s property after the defendant’s removal from a
forcible entry and detainer disposition may be disposed of by
the landlord.
The bill provides that a bar to a proceeding from a tenant’s
peaceful possession with landlord notice does not apply to
landlords who have notified a tenant in writing of a breach
of financial obligation under the rental agreement and the
landlord’s intent to enforce the obligation.
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