{"id":33770,"date":"2023-03-10T13:30:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T19:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33770"},"modified":"2023-03-10T13:30:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T19:30:27","slug":"clean-slate-relief-for-tenants-proposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33770","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Clean slate\u2019 relief for tenants proposed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tenants could have records of past wrongful eviction actions sealed under a bill considered by the Judiciary Committee March 8.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. George Dungan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB175, introduced by Lincoln Sen. George Dungan, would allow tenants to receive \u201cclean slate relief\u201d \u2014 or the automatic sealing of the court record \u2014 if a trial court issues an order dismissing an eviction proceeding against them.<\/p>\n

The bill also would provide a cause of action for a tenant to seek clean slate relief if at least three years have passed since an eviction judgment was entered and restitution was paid, or if an eviction action:
\n\u2022was never carried out;
\n\u2022ended in dismissal but the record remained public; or
\n\u2022resulted in a judgment that was later reversed or vacated.<\/p>\n

Dungan said that under current law, an eviction case remains on a person\u2019s record, even if it is dismissed, which can make finding future housing difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen cases are dismissed for whatever reason, that charge should not remain on their record,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dungan said sealing eviction records would protect tenants from having their housing options limited arbitrarily based on a judicial action that didn\u2019t result in an eviction or no longer accurately reflects the tenant\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n

Destiny Fant, a tenant assistance specialist, spoke in support of the bill. When an eviction notice is filed, she said, it remains on an individual\u2019s permanent record and counts as a strike against them when attempting to find alternate housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if the eviction was filed wrongfully, incorrectly or dismissed before the case even came [to court],\u201d Fant said. \u201cFor the cases that are heard before the court, a lot of times stipulations are made that the tenant agrees to, and the [property owner\u2019s] attorney will vacate or dismiss the eviction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scout Richters, speaking on behalf of the ACLU of Nebraska, also testified in support. Evictions can have devastating consequences, she said, including job loss, health issues, material hardship and homelessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat lasting stigma of a prior eviction notice filing often compels poorer tenants to avoid court involvement at all costs rather than exercising their rights,\u201d Richters said. \u201cMany tenants endure horrible living conditions or comply with unlawful lease termination notices to avoid sustaining that permanent mark of an eviction filing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynn Fisher, representing the Nebraska Realtors Association and the Statewide Property Owners Association, testified in opposition to LB175. The proposal would undermine the right of private property owners to choose the best possible tenant for their property, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill, if passed, would prevent an owner or property manager from finding the truth about an applicant\u2019s past behavior as a tenant,\u201d Fisher said.<\/p>\n

Gene Eckel, testifying on behalf of the Nebraska Association of Commercial Property Owners and the Apartment Association of Nebraska, also spoke in opposition. LB175 would prevent housing providers from obtaining full access to a tenant\u2019s history, he said, and that information is essential to ensuring the safety and security of all parties involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important for owners to be able to evaluate pending previous filings, as they show a pattern of behavior,\u201d Eckel said.<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tenants could have records of past wrongful eviction actions sealed under a bill considered by the Judiciary Committee March 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33740,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[278],"class_list":["post-33770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judiciary","tag-sen-george-dungan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LB175Dungan3-8-23a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33770"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33772,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33770\/revisions\/33772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}