HF 431 (LSB 2349YH (2) 88)

HOUSE FILE 431

BY  DEYOE

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to farm tenancies, by providing for notice of termination.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 562.7, subsection 3, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  By mailing the notice before September 1 by certified mail, return receipt requested, with delivery restricted to the party to be notified or a successor to that party. A certified mail return receipt is evidence of delivery. Notice served by certified mail is made and completed when the notice is enclosed in a sealed envelope, with the proper postage on the envelope, the envelope is addressed to the party or a successor of the party at the last known mailing address and of that party, the envelope is deposited in a mail receptacle provided by the United States postal service, and the envelope is postmarked.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   BILL’S PROVISIONS. This bill amends provisions that require a party to a farm tenancy to provide notice of the tenancy’s termination. The bill provides that the notice must be delivered by certified mail, return receipt requested, with the delivery restricted to the intended recipient. A certified mail return receipt is evidence of delivery and the envelope containing the notice must be postmarked.
   BACKGROUND. A farm tenancy refers to a lease of agricultural land in which the lessee (farm tenant) is a person who produces crops or provides for the care and feeding of livestock on the leased land (Code section 562.1A). Generally, all farm tenancies terminate on March 1, at the end of the farm tenant’s crop year. However, in order to effectuate the termination, one party to the lease (landlord or farm tenant, or a successor in interest) must have given the other party written notice of the termination by the previous September 1 (Code sections 562.5 through 562.7). Without such timely written notice of the termination, the lease continues under its same terms and conditions until the next September 1. There are currently three alternative methods for providing notice to the intended recipient prior to September 1, including by acceptance of service signed by the recipient, serving notice personally on the recipient or failing that by publication in a newspaper, or by certified mail sent to the last-known mailing address of the recipient. In the last case, there is no requirement that the recipient actually receives the notice.