Landlords Look for Leverage

Representative Bill O'Brien believes the New Hampshire Supreme Court got it wrong when it sided with the tenant.

T.2
:55 ...even though her lease had come to an end, decided she didn't want to leave. And had been asked to leave. That she didn't have to leave. When I read that....it sort of snaps your head back and you ask, what is this?

The court based its decision on a statute known as 'good cause.'

That provision allows a landlord to evict a renter if...

...the person refuses to pay rent, destroys property, fails to comply with the lease....or, if the property owner takes the unit off-line, or raises the rent at the end of the lease.

Landlords who live on site have much broader latitude than those outlined in 'good cause' which applies to people who own multiple units.
The justices found no indication that the simple expiration of a lease fell within the galaxy of 'good cause.'

Representative O'Brien says the court's ruling means a perpetual state of tenancy, where the renter can stay against the property owner's wishes.

So he has introduced a bill that would give the landlord more control of his property.

O'Brien says when a lease expires, the contract is done. Neither side owes the other anything.

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3:46 if it's just a landlord saying for example...you are just too high maintenance for me, that should be the landlord's option. Just like a tenant can say, you are too high maintenance for me landlord. I am going to go to another apartment now.

:39 if we had legislation like this go through and a landlord can just say 'boy this person is too high maintenance for me,' that just opens the door to getting rid of anybody who complains about any housing code violation or any other discriminatory practice. And I don't think that's good public policy.

That's attorney Brian Shaughnessy.

He represents both landlords and tenants.

He says landlords must realize housing is not purely a free-market industry.

7:10 much the way electricity is regulated, that the electric company has to do certain things...housing is similar. Housing is, I don't want to say a public commodity, each community needs housing...so it is something government has regulated and it's a regulated business. So in that sense, the landlord can't do whatever he wants.

Representative O'Brien disputes that notion with every fiber in his body.

He believes landlords are in the business to make money, not provide housing services.

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:48 ... We heard testimony that it can be expensive to go get another apartment. If that is a social need, we should address that through governmental remedy, we shouldn't go to a discreet group of individuals-landlords- and say you take care of our societal problems.

Landlord Bill Kaselton- who owns about 300 units across the state- says he just doesn't see a need for the bill.

5:05 ... I have trouble thinking of any reason I would want someone to vacate their unit that I cannot use the current law to do it. If the rent is going up, if I am condoing the unit, if I am taking the unit off line, I just don't want to rent it anymore that is a legitimate reason.

New Hampshire Legal Assistance Attorney Elliot Berry also opposes O'Brien's bill.

He worries about what would happen to the many moderate and low-income tenants who would be affected if the legislation passed.

Berry predicts leases wouldn't be renewed for small transgressions, like calling too often about roaches.

He says affordable housing is too hard to find in New Hampshire right now, for tenants to lose protections.

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2:31 People aren't used to looking at apartments as people's homes. But we have over 130 thousand tenant households in NH, for whom it's their only home. And the loss has very serious repercussions.

5:19 no it's not their home...

Representative Fran Wendelboe is co-sponsoring the bill.

...It's a home they have borrowed, or rented for a specific period of time. It is not theirs. They didn't put the down payment, they don't carry the mortgage, or paying the taxes. They are there for a period of time, using it. it is not their home.

Wendelboe has been a landlord for more than 20 years.

She does not offer tenants leases, and says the bill's passage would not affect her business

Wendelboe doesn't believe the bill would dramatically change how landlords or tenants operate.

She says ideally most tenants stay a long time.

It's too expensive, she says, to advertise, and bring in someone new.

As long as someone is a good tenant, she says, there won't be any problems.

For NHPR News, I'm DG.