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Vermont Legal Aid attorney tells committee H.772 would shorten eviction timelines and risk tenant due process
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Summary
Jean Murray of Vermont Legal Aid told the Judiciary committee that bill H.772 would weaken notice reliability, broaden grounds for eviction to vague "other activity," impose tight hearing deadlines (90 days and 10–21 days), and shift evidentiary burdens onto tenants, increasing risk of erroneous deprivation of housing.
Jean Murray, an attorney with Vermont Legal Aid, urged the Judiciary committee on April 16 to reject or substantially redraft H.772, saying the measure's procedural changes would undermine tenant protections and create legal uncertainty.
Murray said the bill substitutes less reliable methods for the longstanding statutory idea of "actual notice," adding options such as posting on doors and electronic notice that she called unreliable in rural and low-income contexts: "Posting on the door is not a reliable method," she said, and many rural tenants lack steady internet or have difficulty opening attachments. She warned that the bill's allowance of email and posting as landlord-directed notice would make it harder to determine when a tenant actually received notice.
Murray highlighted several provisions she described as ambiguous or dangerous. H.772, she said, inserts a new, vague ground—"other activity"—as a basis for termination that could be applied to lawful but socially stigmatized behavior. She also criticized the bill's timeline changes: scheduling final hearings within 90 days of filing and creating a fast "motion for immediate possession" track that requires hearings within 10–21 days for safety-related cases. "Putting a time clock on things makes it much harder for defendants to defend themselves," she said.
The attorney also said the bill shifts burdens to tenants by requiring affidavits and more paperwork from defendants in the new expedited tracks while landlords may not be required to submit the same level of evidentiary detail. "That affects due process," she said, arguing the change forces tenants to establish a negative before the landlord files full evidence.
Murray noted empirical context from pandemic-era outreach: a program that contacted 5,000 tenants and engaged 2,500 by phone, showing how outreach and legal representation can speed resolution and stabilize tenancies. She urged lawmakers to invest in legal aid and local stabilization programs rather than shorten procedural timelines.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about interactions with existing statutes (the Residential Rental Agreement Act and provisions in Title 12), how pay-and-stay and rent-to-court procedures would operate under new deadlines, and whether judges would retain discretion when landlords file motions. Murray repeatedly warned that vague drafting would invite litigation and could increase discriminatory evictions by enabling broad interpretations of "other activity."
