Bill Text: MI HB4777 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Housing; landlord and tenants; allocation of responsibilities; provide for with respect to prevention and management of bedbug infestation. Amends title & sec. 1 of 1972 PA 348 (MCL 554.601) & adds secs. 1d, 1e, 1f & 1g.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 8-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-07-02 - Bill Electronically Reproduced 07/02/2019 [HB4777 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2019-HB4777-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 4777

 

 

June 26, 2019, Introduced by Reps. Iden, Miller, Webber, VanSingel, Crawford, Hoitenga, Hall and Howell and referred to the Committee on Regulatory Reform.

 

     A bill to amend 1972 PA 348, entitled

 

"An act to regulate relationships between landlords and tenants

relative to rental agreements for rental units; to regulate the

payment, repayment, use and investment of security deposits; to

provide for commencement and termination inventories of rental

units; to provide for termination arrangements relative to rental

units; to provide for legal remedies; and to provide penalties,"

 

by amending the title and section 1 (MCL 554.601), section 1 as

 

amended by 1995 PA 79, and by adding sections 1d, 1e, 1f, and 1g.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

TITLE

 

     An act to regulate relationships between landlords and tenants

 

relative to rental agreements for rental units; to provide for the

 

responsibilities of landlords and tenants for the control of

 

certain pests in rental units; to regulate the payment, repayment,

 

use, and investment of security deposits; to provide for

 

commencement and termination inventories of rental units; to

provide for termination arrangements relative to rental units; to

 

provide for legal remedies; and to provide penalties.

 

     Sec. 1. As used in this act:

 

     (a) "Accredited canine team" means a handler and dog team

 

certified by an independent organization according to commonly

 

accepted industry standards for entomological scent detection.

 

     (b) "Bedbug" means an insect of the species Cimex lectularius.

 

     (c) "Control" or "controlling" means inspecting, cleaning,

 

vacuuming, conducting thermal remediation, properly disposing of

 

property, and arranging or scheduling treatments.

 

     (d) "Infestation" means and "infested" refers to the presence

 

of live bedbugs or viable bedbug eggs.

 

     (e) "Landlord" means any of the following:

 

     (i) The owner, lessor, or sublessor of the rental unit or the

 

property of which it is a part.

 

     (ii) A person authorized to exercise any aspect of the

 

management of a rental unit or the property of which it is a part,

 

including a person who, directly or indirectly, acts as a rental

 

agent or receives rent, other than as a bona fide purchaser,

 

whether or not that person has an obligation to deliver the rent

 

payments to another person.

 

     (f) "Pest management professional" means a commercial

 

applicator as defined in section 8302 of the natural resources and

 

environmental protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.8302, who is

 

licensed under section 8313 of the natural resources and

 

environmental protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.8313.

 

     (g) "Rental agreement" means an agreement that establishes or

modifies the terms, conditions, or other provisions concerning the

 

use and occupancy of a rental unit.

 

     (h) (a) "Rental unit" means a structure or part of a structure

 

used as a home, residence, or sleeping unit by a single person or

 

household unit, or any grounds, or other facilities or area

 

promised for the use of a residential tenant and includes, but

 

without limitation, apartment units, boarding houses, rooming

 

houses, mobile home spaces, and single and 2-family dwellings.

 

     (b) "Rental agreement" means an agreement that establishes or

 

modifies the terms, conditions, rules, regulations, or any other

 

provisions concerning the use and occupancy of a rental unit.

 

     (c) "Landlord" means the owner, lessor, or sublessor of the

 

rental unit or the property of which it is a part and, in addition,

 

means a person authorized to exercise any aspect of the management

 

of the premises, including a person who, directly or indirectly,

 

acts as a rental agent, receives rent, other than as a bona fide

 

purchaser, and who has no obligation to deliver the receipts to

 

another person.

 

     (d) "Tenant" means a person who occupies a rental unit for

 

residential purposes with the landlord's consent for an agreed upon

 

consideration.

 

     (i) (e) "Security deposit", subject to subdivision (j), means

 

a deposit , in any amount, paid by the tenant to the landlord or

 

his or her agent to be held for the term of the rental agreement,

 

or any part of the term, and includes any all of the following:

 

     (i) Any required prepayment of rent other than the first full

 

rental period of the lease rental agreement. ; any

     (ii) Any sum required to be paid as rent in any rental period

 

in excess of the average rent for the term. ; and any

 

     (iii) Any other amount of money or property returnable to the

 

tenant on condition of return of the rental unit by the tenant in

 

condition as required by the rental agreement.

 

     (j) Security deposit does not include either of the following:

 

     (i) An amount paid for an option to purchase, pursuant to a

 

lease with an option to purchase, unless it is shown the intent was

 

to evade this act.

 

     (ii) An amount paid as a subscription for or purchase of a

 

membership in a cooperative housing association incorporated under

 

the laws of this state. As used in this subparagraph, "cooperative

 

housing association" means a consumer cooperative that provides

 

dwelling units to its members.

 

     (k) (f) "Senior citizen housing" means housing for individuals

 

62 years of age or older that is subsidized in whole or in part

 

under any local, state, or federal program.

 

     (l) "Tenant" means an individual who occupies a rental unit

 

for residential purposes with the landlord's consent for an agreed-

 

upon consideration.

 

     (m) "Thermal remediation" means using intense temperature to

 

eradicate bedbugs.

 

     (n) "Treat", "treating", or "treatment" means or refers to

 

applying pesticides or other chemicals or using other methods

 

common to the pest control industry to eradicate bedbugs.

 

     Sec. 1d. (1) A landlord shall not enter into a rental

 

agreement if the landlord knows the rental unit is infested.

     (2) When a landlord enters into a rental agreement for a

 

rental unit in a multiple-unit dwelling, the landlord shall provide

 

the tenant written information, by hard copy or electronic mail, or

 

an internet link to written information, about finding and

 

identifying bedbugs and maintaining a rental unit free from

 

bedbugs.

 

     (3) A landlord shall maintain the landlord's rental premises

 

free from bedbugs.

 

     (4) Within 7 days after receiving a written hard copy or

 

electronic mail notice from a tenant, or other reliable source, of

 

a suspected infestation in the tenant's rental unit, the landlord

 

shall schedule an inspection of the rental unit for bedbugs by a

 

pest management professional or accredited canine team.

 

     (5) Within 7 days after an infestation in a rental unit is

 

confirmed by an inspection under subsection (4), the landlord shall

 

do both of the following:

 

     (a) Begin control. If it is necessary to treat the rental

 

unit, the landlord shall employ a pest management professional for

 

that purpose.

 

     (b) Schedule an inspection of adjoining rental units.

 

     Sec. 1e. (1) If a rental unit is free from bedbugs, the tenant

 

of the rental unit shall maintain the rental unit free from

 

bedbugs.

 

     (2) A tenant shall inspect a rental unit for infestation when

 

the tenant first occupies the rental unit.

 

     (3) A tenant shall not move items that are infested into the

 

rental unit.

     (4) If, at any time during a tenant's occupancy of a rental

 

unit, the tenant discovers or suspects that the rental unit is

 

infested, the tenant shall notify the landlord in writing, by hard

 

copy or electronic mail, within 2 days after discovering or first

 

suspecting an infestation. The notice constitutes permission by the

 

tenant for the landlord, a pest management professional, and an

 

accredited canine team to enter the tenant's rental unit for

 

control and treatment.

 

     (5) A tenant shall do all of the following:

 

     (a) Grant reasonable access to the rental unit to the

 

landlord, the landlord's pest management professional, and an

 

accredited canine team for control and treatment.

 

     (b) Comply with the control protocol established by the

 

landlord or the landlord's pest management professional.

 

     (6) A violation of subsection (5) constitutes a serious and

 

continuing health hazard.

 

     (7) A tenant shall not treat a rental unit.

 

     Sec. 1f. (1) If a tenant or the tenant's guest causes an

 

infestation, the tenant shall pay the cost of control and treatment

 

of the rental unit and other areas where bedbugs have spread. The

 

cost is considered additional rent owed by the tenant.

 

     (2) Except in the case of negligence, the landlord is not

 

liable for damages resulting from an infestation or from control or

 

treatment.

 

     (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, the

 

landlord and tenant may agree in writing, by hard copy or

 

electronic mail, how responsibility is assigned for costs resulting

from an infestation, including, but not limited to, costs of

 

control or treatment. For property aided or insured by the state or

 

federal government, the agreement is subject to applicable

 

requirements of the Michigan state housing development authority or

 

the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development,

 

respectively.

 

     (4) In determining whether the landlord or a tenant is

 

responsible for an infestation in a rental unit, a court shall

 

consider the totality of the circumstances.

 

     Sec. 1g. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a county or

 

municipality shall not adopt or enforce an ordinance that imposes

 

requirements on landlords or tenants for control or treatment and

 

that extends, revises, or conflicts with section 1d, 1e, or 1f.

 

     (2) Subsection (1) does not prohibit the adoption of an

 

ordinance imposing requirements for the proper disposal of items

 

that are infested with bedbugs.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.