What You Need to Know About the Bill of Rights for Renters

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The federal government has taken a step toward providing better protection for renters. President Joe Biden has released a document called a Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights.

The white paper is merely a proposal that presents some principles, guidelines, and goals that laws in the future might contain to protect renters. In its present form, it is not a law, has no legal authority, and does not create any rights.

The Need for the Blueprint

Many people, especially renters in some areas, have hoped for such a document because they have faced wrongful evictions or are facing getting evicted soon. COVID-19 created financial hardships for millions of people, putting them in a place where they could not pay the rent.

Once rent payments stopped, many landlords began to evict their tenants. Since the landlords’ financial stability often depended on receiving the rent each month, it led some to tenant evictions to get paying renters. CNBC reports that during COVID-19, there were about 900,000 evictions each year.

The White House revealed that more than 44 million households live in rented spaces. It equals about 35 percent of the people in the United States.

The need for a Renters Bill of Rights is further seen when some rent prices increased by an average of 17.1 percent between 2021 and 2022, said BiggerPockets, and 7.45 percent in 2022, according to TheStreet. While many landlords were fair, others raised rent prices to incredible heights—especially some large organizations that owned multiple rental units.

The Document’s Five Objectives

In the Renters Bill of Rights, there are five primary objectives outlined that it would like to see in future laws and guidelines. They include:]

1. Access to Housing That Is Quality, Safe, and Affordable

Tenants should feel comfortable and safe in their rented space. They should also be able to find affordable housing to suit their budget with rent protection, without fear of future severe price hikes.

2. Leases That Are Clear and Fair

Leases are often ambiguous. It may be deliberate to give the landlord power to interpret it as desired. Instead, leases should be more detailed and spell out in clear terms what is expected, the grounds for eviction, what to expect when rent is late, predictable rent increases, etc.

3. Increased Instruction on Terms and Rights

Tenants need to know what rights and protections they have against unfair practices. This guideline aims to reduce discrimination of any kind—including sexual harassment.

4. A Right to Organize

This principle would give tenants increased power to ensure quality treatment and living conditions. Tenants should be able to provide good feedback for landlords to improve the properties and tenant relations. Unfortunately, many fear harassment or retaliation through eviction if they should speak out. The Renters Bill of Rights suggests that organized tenants should also have the right to meet in public spaces, without the landlord being present.

5. The Prevention of Eviction and Relief

Tenants should be protected against unfair evictions and have the means to stop eviction through negotiation. Terms to resolve a potential eviction should be established, such as a grace period to pay back rent, etc. They should also be given a 30-day notice before an eviction is enforced.

Forbes Additional Suggestions

Forbes created its own list of rights that renters need. Among other suggestions, they include:

1. A Right to Apply with Equal Opportunity

In many cases, renters apply for rental spaces and never hear anything back. The document suggests requiring landlords to respond within 24 hours and to give another 24 hours to provide additional documents.

2. A Right to Communication with Respect

Too often today landlords do not show respect to their tenants—or some of them. Improved communication leads to better understanding, which can reduce unnecessary conflict.

3. A Right to Renew a Lease

Tenants should have the right to renew a lease to ensure fair treatment. Landlords often take advantage of those without this right and may force people out without a good reason—often just because they want to raise the rent.

The Resident-Centered Housing Challenge

Besides creating the Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights, the HUDExchange says the White House has already performed several additional actions. These include forming a Resident-Centered Housing Challenge to encourage and motivate Congress and leaders at the state and local levels to provide regulations to give renters greater protections to ensure practices are fair and transparent.

Many Renters’ Protections Ended When the Pandemic Ended

At this point, Congress is not considering any particular laws that may improve the plight of renters facing eviction or impossibly high rent hikes. Congress is merely investigating the matter, says Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

During the pandemic, there was protection for renters; but with the end of the pandemic, those protections have all but disappeared. Yentel says that even before the pandemic, about 10 million families with low-income levels were already struggling to pay the rent. Now that the protections are no longer available, it has made it even harder for them, and many of them are facing eviction.

Government Programs Will Have Increased Protection

Although the Renters Bill of Rights is providing very little action now for the average renter, it does provide direction for improvements under government-controlled housing. Agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, mortgage lender Freddie Mac, and other government-sponsored enterprises have some specific directives in this document to increase protections for renters.

HUD has already implemented some changes in its program for renters, which was implemented in 2022. According to HUD, the new provisions for renters include government assistance to help renters pay the security deposit and utilities, as well as past due utility debt.

Increased Housing Supply

The current administration has already made plans to increase the supply of rental units across the nation. A briefing from the White House says that they will expand rental assistance to meet a goal of providing 200,000 housing vouchers in 2022 and 2023. Over 10 years—starting with 2022—assistance for renters has been secured for more than 100,000 households through 2033.

Even though many of the suggested guidelines have been met with satisfaction from many quarters, other organizations are not so happy. One group headed by Bob Pinnegar, CEO of the National Apartment Association, says that the government should not be involved in this matter.

Whether or not the blueprint leads to further actual changes beyond what has already been done is yet to be seen. Renters should make their voices heard by organizations that can make changes. They should also learn what rights they currently have in the state and locality they live.

The Epoch Times Copyright © 2022 The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.