Legislative Report - VAMA Counts Wins!!!
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March 7, 2016 VAMA Member Legislative Report
With the 2016 session of the Virginia General Assembly session drawing to a close, all of VAMA’s proactive legislative initiatives have been approved by the Senate and House of Delegates as of this week. VAMA entered the 2016 session with a substantial agenda, comprising a total of eight bills covering six issue areas of importance to the multifamily rental housing industry. S.B. 736, prohibiting retroactive local regulation of landscape cover materials has been signed by the Governor and will become effective July 1, 2016. Six more bills currently await communication to the Governor’s desk for executive action to sign the measures into law. Those bills seek to amend the unlawful detainer process to ensure consistency in the code and ensure that property managers are not disqualified as witnesses in court proceedings; close an existing loophole whereby judges have been granting possession of units to non-tenants; advance industry-friendly amendments to the Virginia Rental Housing Act; and allow taxpayers access to vital information in real estate assessment appeals.
Governor Signs S.B. 736, Prohibiting Retroactive Local Regulation of Landscape Cover Materials
On March 1, Governor Terry McAuliffe signed S.B. 736 into law. The bill, which was introduced by Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), will become effective July 1, 2016. It prohibits the City of Harrisonburg from requiring existing properties to retrofit and re-landscape to either remove and replace all mulch or to create an 18-inch buffer between mulch beds and the side of any structure. The bill was introduced in response to a local ordinance adopted by the City Council, which would have mandated retrofit of landscaping of properties that had already been built and developed to the specifications of the local government. The bill was vehemently opposed by the City of Harrisonburg and the State Fire Chiefs Association, which had been seeking to add amendments to the House companion bill, H.B. 944, when it came to a vote on the Senate floor. To prevent this action, Senator Obenshain had the bill stricken to prevent any further consideration or amendment. As such, S.B. 736 will go into effect in its final form on July 1, 2016.
House and Senate Budgets Include Investments in Virginia Housing Trust Fund
In his proposed budget, Governor Terry McAuliffe allocated $20 million - $10 million in each of the next two years of the biennial budget – to support the Housing Trust Fund. Though this was supported in the budget along with several other programmatic investments by funds associated with the proposed Medicaid expansion (not accepted by the General Assembly,) some funds remain in play. The Senate budget allots $6 million each year and the House budget $4 million per year. The House and Senate budget bills will go to conference to resolve the differences between the two.
Virginia Housing Commission to Study Limited Residential Lodging
New technological platforms such as Airbnb have made it easier than ever for individuals to rent out properties on a short-term basis. Along with this burgeoning cottage industry have come a plethora of issues for property owners and local governments to include unauthorized subletting of units by tenants, nuisance issues surrounding rental of properties as "party houses," questions surrounding the proper procedures for collection and remittance of transient occupancy taxes, and divergence of standards for hotels and properties effectively being operated as such. Some VAMA members have expressed interest in using platforms such as Airbnb to rent out vacant units on a short-term basis to generate revenue on an otherwise non-performing asset. In response to these issues, some local governments have established regulations to restrict and even prohibit property owners from engaging in short-term rentals. To avoid the proliferation of patchwork regulation on the local level and create a more hospitable environment for the emerging business model. While the bills only affected properties where the rentor was the primary resident, VAMA monitored the legislation closely to ensure that nothing in the law would trump lease language prohibiting subleases.
The ultimate fate of the bills, which would be the first of their kind across the country, is yet to be decided by the General Assembly. In either scenario, it appears that the issue will be sent to the Virginia Housing Commission to further study, including expansion to multifamily rental properties. VAMA maintains positions on the Commission’s various work groups and will thus be at the table for these ongoing discussions to represent the industry’s interests.
