TOPEKA — A bill giving legal options to tenants who lose their homes because of bad landlords passed the Senate on Tuesday, after an amendment that limited individual tenant’s right to sue.
Senate Bill 415 allows the Kansas Consumer Protection Act to prevail over the state’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Act when a landlord lets a dwelling become uninhabitable, said Sen. Doug Shane, a Louisburg Republican.
The legislation was written after a Gardner landlord allowed a property to deteriorate, leaving tenants in unsafe living conditions, he said.
“An apartment complex was condemned by local authorities, giving the residents of that apartment complex 48 hours to pack up their things and to try to find housing,” Shane said. “It temporarily created housing instability for more than 700 people and was a true tragedy for our community.”
In such situations, when a landlord allowed the situation through “intentional action or failure to act,” the Consumer Protection Act allows for remedies and enforcement provisions, Shane said.
A 1979 Kansas Supreme Court decision, though, determined the Landlord Tenant Act took precedence over the Consumer Protection Act, he said.
“Senate Bill 415 removes the need for legal gymnastics to prove jurisdiction in landlord-tenant disputes by explicitly codifying that landlords are liable, especially in situations where they have neglected a rental unit to such an extent that it is rendered uninhabitable,” Shane said.
The bill clarifies that landlords are held to “the same standards of honesty and quality as any other business in Kansas,” he said.
Leawood Republican Sen. Kellie Warren said she had many landlords in her district, and they were concerned about the litigation potential, such as 30 separate lawsuits from 30 different tenants.
Warren proposed an amendment that eliminated the private cause of action for each tenant, allowing only the Attorney General, the Attorney General’s designee, or a county or district attorney, to bring civil actions.
Some representatives opposed the amendment because tenants would be at the mercy of those officials’ caseloads or interest in tackling cases with fewer tenants. However, the change passed.
Asked whether the bill interfered with tenants’ rights to file a class action lawsuit, Warren said the issue was under consideration because the Consumer Protection Act details how that would occur.
The bill passed in final Senate action Tuesday and moved to the House for debate.
This story previously appeared in the Kansas Reflector.
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