Tenant notification, immigration Smith priorities

Rep. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, has sponsored a bill requiring property owners to notify tenants if the property is being foreclosed or sold, one of three bills he sponsored working their way through the Legislature.

“This bill came from many of my constituents,” Smith said during a Feb. 7 committee on reform and human services hearing.

Smith said when Maricopa was hit by the housing crash, many renters abruptly found themselves required to move with little or no notice.

“Lots of times these people would get a letter on their door saying, ‘Non-payment, foreclosed, get out,’ and they had no idea,” Smith said.

A proposed amendment to the bill, written by Rep. Sally Ann Gonzalez, D-Guadalupe, would require notification within five days of receiving notice of foreclosure or trustee sale, a time limit with which Smith agrees.

However, Smith said he disagreed with the second half of the proposed amendment to require a new owner of a home with tenants to abide by the terms of any pre-existing lease agreement for the duration of the lease or, if the owner is going to live in the property, give 90 days notice to the tenant before terminating the agreement.

“I think much of it’s covered in federal law, and beyond that I think it’s an undue burden placed on a new homeowner,” Smith said.

Courtney LeVinus, representing the Arizona Multihousing Association, said the organization supports the bill and the notification timeline, but echoed Smith’s concerns about existing tenants, saying the issue was covered in federal law.

“We would prefer to defer to those federal requirements if we bring this down to the state level,” she said.

LeVinus said the provision introduced a host of potential issues because the new owner would not be the original landlord.

“So we have a security deposit issue, we have a landlord-tenant issue because we don’t have a landlord-tenant relationship, and we have no control over what that rent may be,” she said.

To see video of the hearing, click here and click on “HB2281 – foreclosure; tenant notification” link on the left-hand side underneath the video to jump to that portion of the hearing.