Proponents hope to resurrect measure in 2024
An anti-retaliation bill that would protect tenants from vindictive landlords fell to the wayside in the Oklahoma Legislature this session, but proponents for the measure hope it’s resurrected in 2024.
House Bill 2109 was authored by Rep. Daniel Pae (R-Lawton) and Sen. John Michael Montgomery (R-Lawton).
The bill passed the House, 71-23, but stalled in the Senate after being approved 6-5 by the Business and Commerce Committee.
Still, Pae and Sabine Brown, an infrastructure and access senior policy analyst for the Oklahoma Policy Institute, said the bill is eligible for consideration during the 2024 legislative session. It’s also received bipartisan support, Pae said.
“There’s certainly a lot of groups that support it,” Montgomery said.
“Oklahoma is one of six states with no anti-retaliation protection,” Pae said. “Tenants should not be concerned about an increase in rent, a decrease in services or eviction if a landlord fails to do their job.”
HB 2109 was one of several legislative measures discussed by Brown and several other housing experts during an online forum in April.
The measure would prohibit landlords renting more than 10 units from retaliating against tenants after learning of tenant complaints or formal legal actions. The bill would not allow landlords to increase rent, decrease services, bring or threaten an action for possession or terminate a rental agreement as punishment for the tenant’s actions.
However, the bill would still allow the landlord to retain the right to recovery of the premises if the recovery was done in good faith. The measure also provides requirements a tenant must meet to bring an action against a landlord for violating the lease agreement and outlines scenarios where a tenant cannot be evicted on the basis of nonpayment of rent when the property fails to meet livability standards.
Pae and Brown said they’ve heard “personal testimony” from people with real-life situations who have experienced retaliation from landlords. The personal stories have come from across the state in rural and urban areas, Brown said. In some cases, tenants have been punished by landlords for reporting inoperable air conditioners, mice infestations and broken stairs. The landlord’s punishment in some instances ranged from charging tenants exorbitant fees to harassment, Brown said.
“This bill would have a positive impact on people’s lives,” Pae said. “It’s not a radical proposition. In my view, it’s a balanced approach that we’ve taken.”
“Our main focus is to make sure tenants aren’t punished,” Montgomery said. “We’ll sit down with landlord and tenant groups. We want to make sure we’re not being too zealous against landlords.”
Part of the measure would require tenants to prove the landlord retaliated against them. HB 2109 has been endorsed by the Oklahoma Realtors Association, Oklahoma Mental Health Association and Housing Solutions of Tulsa.
Although the bill did not pass this session, Pae said he’s learned to be patient during his time as a legislator.
“Good policy takes time,” he said. “I’m always an optimist and we do have a foundation of support. I think it’s a well-rounded piece of legislation.”
Brown emphasized the proposal is about “health and safety” and that landlords shouldn’t take punitive actions against tenants for ensuring their rentals are “habitable and safe.” In recent years, there has been an uptick in the number of out-of-state apartment complex owners who aren’t as concerned about the community or the tenants, Brown said.
A violation of the proposed measure by landlords would entitle tenants legal remedies including recovery of actual damages plus attorney’s fees. Tenants could also use retaliation as a defense in any legal action against the landlord.
The landlord-tenant law was written in the 1970s by legislators with few revisions since then. For instance, if an eviction notice was written in legal terminology that most tenants did not understand they were unaware they were entitled to an attorney, Brown said. However, Governor Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 2792 in April. That measure requires the Oklahoma Bar Association to write an eviction notice in “plain and understandable” language.
“This was a simple fix,” Brown said.
Oklahoma Watch reported in April that a nonprofit aimed at helping low-income Oklahomans studied evictions in eight counties – Canadian, Cleveland, Comanche, Garfield, Logan, Oklahoma, Payne, Rogers and Tulsa. Of the 510 eviction orders granted last June and July in those counties, 89% were filed by corporate landlords. Most filed multiple evictions in a single day, according to information provided by Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation.
More than half of the landlords had lawyers while only 4% had their own attorneys, Oklahoma Watch reported.