When Georgia lawmakers passed the Safe at Home Act last year, it marked a major step forward for tenant rights by requiring rental housing to be “fit for human habitation.”
But housing advocates seized on a glaring gap that they saw in the legislation: It didn’t define habitability.
State Rep. Terry Cummings (D-Mableton) wants to change that. She’s working on a bill to amend House Bill 404 so that it specifies what makes a residence livable, she announced Saturday at a Housing Justice League forum.
While the new proposal’s language hasn’t been finalized, Cummings told Atlanta Civic Circle it will require landlords to “maintain building structure, heating, and plumbing in working order,” and to “keep structures free from mold, mildew, and pests.”
On its face, Cummings’ bid to amend HB 404 seems straightforward — and just what housing advocates asked for last year. The initial Safe at Home Act, which took effect on July 1, left habitability requirements up for legal interpretation whenever a landlord-tenant dispute goes to court.
But Michael Waller, who heads the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, said it may be too soon to fully understand how judges are interpreting HB 404 — and what kinds of changes still could be needed.
“We think that having a well-crafted definition of habitability would benefit renting families and landlords,” he said in an interview. “But right now, it’s too early to know how the Safe at Home Act is playing out in the courts.”
“We do know that local governments across Georgia have ordinances and legal codes that provide a framework for a local definition of habitability,” Waller added. “We’re monitoring the courts to see how they are interpreting the Safe at Home Act’s protections — and whether they are incorporating these local ordinances.”
In the roughly seven months since HB 404’s enactment, Georgia Appleseed has also realized that there is “little public awareness about the bill and its protections for families,” Waller said. In response, his nonprofit is working to educate landlords, tenants, and courts about how to apply it.
While saying rental housing should have working plumbing and be free from mold, rats, and roaches may seem like a no-brainer, actually legislating those regulations into statewide law is easier said than done.
For instance, it takes an expert to determine the severity of a mold problem and whether it could make tenants sick. Is a small mildew bloom in the shower enough to require remediation from the landlord — or even to condemn a house? What about a single rodent or insect?
These are some of the questions policymakers must ask as they endeavor to strengthen the Safe at Home Act and tenant protections at large.
To be habitable, there must be excellent working locks on the doors, a solid roof with no leaks, decent furnace and a/c, and maintained lighting in the parking lots and in the halls of apartment buildings. It is important that the wiring is safe and that inspections of fuse boxes and outlets happen once or twice a year. Tenants that don’t know how to care for the apartment they’ve been placed in will need a booklet that covers the basics–only two things plugged into outlets, stovetop must be cleared and clean, toilets are not used as trashcans, etc.
in most cases tenant abuse causes rats and bugs in the home