SSB 3128 (LSB 6081XC (1) 91)

SENATE FILE _____ 

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL BY CHAIRPERSON WEBSTER)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to city utilities including tenant notification.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 384.84, subsection 4, paragraph e, Code 2026, is amended to read as follows:
   e.  Residential rental property where a charge for any of the services of sewer systems, storm water drainage systems, sewage treatment, solid waste collection, and solid waste disposal is paid directly to the city utility or enterprise by the tenant is exempt from a lien for delinquent rates or charges associated with such services if the landlord gives written notice to the city utility or enterprise that the property is residential rental property and that the tenant is liable for the rates or charges. A city utility or enterprise may require a deposit not exceeding the usual cost of ninety days of the services of sewer systems, storm water drainage systems, sewage treatment, solid waste collection, and solid waste disposal to be paid to the utility or enterprise. A city utility or enterprise may require a deposit not exceeding the usual cost of sixty days of the services of gas and electric to be paid to the utility or enterprise. Upon receipt, the utility or enterprise shall acknowledge the notice and deposit. A written notice shall contain the name of the tenant responsible for the charges, the address of the residential rental property that the tenant is to occupy, and the date that the occupancy begins. A change in tenant shall require a new written notice to be given to the city utility or enterprise within thirty business days of the change in tenant.  When a landlord has an active rental license for a property, a tenant’s notification to the city utility or enterprise of the tenant’s responsibility or the cessation of the tenant’s responsibility for utility charges shall serve as acceptable written notice. When the tenant moves from the rental property, the city utility or enterprise shall return the deposit if the charges for the services of gas, electric, sewer systems, storm water drainage systems, sewage treatment, solid waste collection, and solid waste disposal are paid in full. A change in the ownership of the residential rental property shall require written notice of such change to be given to the city utility or enterprise within thirty business days of the completion of the change of ownership. The lien exemption for rental property does not apply to charges for repairs related to a service of sewer systems, storm water drainage systems, sewage treatment, solid waste collection, and solid waste disposal if the repair charges become delinquent.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Under current law, when a landlord has given written notice to the city utility or enterprise that a property is residential rental property and that the tenant is liable for the rates or charges for certain utilities, the property is exempt from a lien for delinquent rates or charges associated with the utility. This bill includes as acceptable written notice a tenant’s notification to the city utility or enterprise of the tenant’s responsibility or the cessation of the tenant’s responsibility for utility charges when a landlord has an active rental license for a property.