House Housing Committee narrows S.772: credit checks allowed at actual cost, eviction defenses tied to uncured citations

Representative Mark Mahale, chair of the House Committee on Housing in General, led a Feb. 12 session that took up S.772 and a bundle of related landlord–tenant measures, focusing on application fees, eviction defenses, habitability and trespass remedies.

The committee moved to remove the bill’s reference to a “nominal” fee and to allow landlords to charge applicants only for the actual cost of a credit check, not as an open application charge. Cameron Wood of the Office of Legislative Council read the statute the committee is revising, noting the current language bars application fees and treats background checks as part of a prohibited application fee while allowing a separate charge for a credit report. "The landlord shall not charge an application fee to any individual in order to apply to rent a residential dwelling," Wood said while reading the draft. Members agreed to substitute…