Title
An Ordinance to Amend Sections 8:530 and 8:531 of Chapter 105 (Housing Code) of Title VII (Building Regulations) of the Code of the City of Ann Arbor (ORD-24-03)
Memorandum
A majority-approximately 55%-of the households in the City of Ann Arbor are renter-occupied. The City is in the midst of a housing crisis. Rental housing in the City is in high demand and short supply. This high demand has contributed to pressure on tenants to renew increasingly early into a lease period, which negatively impacts tenants both economically and non-economically.
In 2021 and 2022, the Ann Arbor City Council passed an ordinance amendment to the Early Leasing Ordinance (ORD No. 21-22) and enacted the Right to Renew Ordinance (ORD No. 22-15) to regulate leasing transactions in the interest of the health, safety, and welfare of City residents to reduce the pressure on tenants to renew early into a lease period.
Since these changes were enacted, pressure on tenants to renew early into a lease period has persisted. Tenants have reported that landlords use loopholes in the ordinance to apply pressure to tenants. (Students Report Landlords Finding Loopholes in the Early Leasing Ordinance, <https://www.michigandaily.com/news/ann-arbor/students-report-landlords-finding-loopholes-in-the-early-leasing-ordinance/>; Ann Arbor Landlords Finding Ways Around New Renter Rights Law, Some Argue, <https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2021/11/ann-arbor-landlords-finding-ways-around-new-renter-rights-law-some-argue.html>.
The Renters’ Commission and City staff continue to receive numerous complaints regarding landlords pressuring tenants to renew leases soon into the beginning of a lease.
The attached proposed ordinance amendment will address the continued pressure on tenants to renew early into a lease period. The proposed ordinance amendment also streamlines the early leasing and right to renew ordinances into one code section to eliminate conflict and duplication.
In particular, the proposed ordinance:
• Prevents landlords from making renewal offers to current tenants earlier than 180 days from the start of the current lease;
• Clarifies and adds to the list of required information that landlords must include in a written renewal offer, including a requirement that the landlord list all changes in the terms and conditions from the current lease;
• Merges two sections into one to reduce duplicate and conflicting provisions;
• Modifies all deadlines and timing to be counted from the start of the lease instead of counted from the end of the lease for clarity.
Staff
Reviewed by: John Reiser, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Jennifer A. Richards, Assistant City Attorney
Body
(See Attached Ordinance)
Sponsored by: Councilmembers Radina, Harrison, Cornell, Briggs, Watson, Disch, and Ghazi Edwin