John Logan Laff Gordon Bennett Logan jlogan@lafflaw.com Strange - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

John Logan Laff Gordon Bennett Logan jlogan@lafflaw.com

Strange things are afoot at the circle dome

Lease law changes  Huge residential lease changes  Application procedures  Time to cure residential lease violations  Warranty of habitability  Bed bugs

Lease application changes  Application fee can only cover actual costs  Costs must be disclosed  Can’t consider rental or credit history more than 7 years old  Can’t consider criminal history more than 5 years old, unless it involves meth or sex  Must give written notice of reasons for declining lease  Penalties include triple the application fee, court costs and attorney fees

Time to cure lease violations  Changes from 3 days to 10  5 days if you have five or fewer single family properties  But it must be disclosed in the lease  Still 3 days for commercial properties

Warranty of habitability  Breach warranty of habitability if premises are:  Uninhabitable or otherwise unfit for human habitation or in a condition that materially interferes with a tenant's life, health, or safety; and  Landlord has received written or electronic notice of the condition and failed to commence remedial action by employing reasonable efforts within: a. 24 hours, where the condition materially  interferes with the tenant's life, health, or safety; or  b. 96 hours, where the premises is uninhabitable or otherwise unfit for human habitation.

New ‘uninhabitable’ triggers  Premises lack a functioning refrigerator, range, or oven  Mold  Landlord has 24 hours from notice to mitigate the immediate risk for mold and install a high efficiency particulate air filter system  Must remediate mold “within a reasonable time”

Tenant’s right to new unit  If a tenant gives a landlord notice of a condition that is imminently hazardous to life, health, or safety the landlord, at the request of the tenant, shall  Move the tenant to a reasonably comparable unit under the control of the landlord or  Pay for a tenant to stay in a hotel room, but the tenant must continue to pay rent

Tenant right to deduct  Allows tenant to deduct from rent the cost to repair or remedy condition, or to repair or replace appliance  Tenant must give the landlord 10 days notice and the landlord then has 4 business days to get estimates for the cost of the work and starts repairs as soon as possible.  If tenant has the work done, the work must be done by a contractor, not the tenant.  Tenant can’t deduct for conditions caused by tenant, unless the condition results from stalking, domestic abuse or sex assault and the tenant lets the landlord know the cause.

Tenant right to terminate  If same condition that recurs within 6 months after repair, tenant may terminate the lease 14 days after notice  If appliance malfunctions again within 6 months after repair, tenant may terminate the lease on 14 day’s notice unless landlord fixes appliance again.

Don’t retaliate  If a landlord retaliates against a tenant making a good faith complaint, tenant may:  terminate the lease and  recover the greater of three times the monthly rent or actual damages  plus attorney fees.

Bed bugs  Requires tenant promptly notify landlord of bed bugs  Landlord has 96 hours to inspect  Tenant entitled to 48 hours notice of inspection but can’t unreasonably deny access  Landlord must start removing bed bugs within 5 business days after inspection.  Landlord pays for costs of removal  Tenant responsible for preparing residence for inspection and treatment

Bed bugs, part 2  Landlord must (if asked) disclose bed bugs for the previous 8 months.  Tenant who “knowingly and unreasonably fails to comply with inspection and treatment requirements” is liable for the cost of subsequent bed bug treatments if the need for the treatments arises from the tenant's noncompliance.  Landlords who fail to comply are liable for tenant’s actual damages.  If a tenant fails to comply, landlord can get a court order forcing access and awarding damages for tenant’s non - compliance.

Groundwater problems  Many buildings have sump pumps to get rid of groundwater  Colorado groundwater has excessive levels of selenium  CDPHE requiring that groundwater be treated to lower selenium levels to Federal discharge levels  Can add enormous costs to construction and ongoing operating costs  $8,000 to $12,000 per month in water hauling fees  CDOT spend $1.6 million trucking water from I-25 and Santa Fe because of high arsenic levels

Coming soon to a legislature near you…  Rent control  Retainage caps on construction  Limited growth initiative

Denver is getting…

An actual quote…  I don’t believe that our current economic system actually works… I think that we’re in late -phase capitalism, and we know it doesn’t work and we’ve got to move into something new. I believe in community ownership of land, labor, resources, and distribution of those resources. And so, whatever that morphs into, I think is what will serve community the best, and I’m excited to usher it in by any means necessary .

Transit demand programs - TDM  Coming Spring 2020 for Denver buildings  Change travel behavior  Reduce single occupancy vehicle (SOV) trips by 50%  Mass transit screens, bike parking requirements  Building transit coordinators  TDM obligations that run with the building  Modeled on Seattle and Portland programs

Transit demand programs - TDM  Tier 1 new development  24-44 residential units  20,000-49,000 Office SF Identify and construct infrastructure on or offsite (eg: extend bike lane to property, bike parking, showers for bike commuters, have transportation coordinator, report to city)

Transit Demand Programs - TDM  Tier 2 new development  All Tier 1 requirements, PLUS  Implement program strategies  Conduct surveys to measure TDM impacts  Achieve designated commute rate

Transit Demand Programs - TDM  Enforcement  No TDM plan – No construction permit  Failure to report – Administrative fines  Failure to achieve SOV goals – Possibly requirement to spend on incentives or switch strategies  Mandatory reporting  Central contact point for city (eg: property manager)

Electrification  Denver goals  100% renewable electricity for municipal buildings by 2025  100% renewable electricity by 2030 for Denver  All buildings on electric – no gas!

Don’t forget about benchmarking!!  Denver has had an energy ordinance requiring energy use reporting for buildings over 25,000 square feet since 2016  Requires building owners to annually assess and report by June 1 on energy performance using the EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool  Data available online at http://www.energizedenver.org useful information  But….camel’s nose under the tent – are mandatory retrofits coming ?

Landmark designation changes  Effective November 1, 2019  Landmark Preservation planners review all applications for demolition and for certificates of demolition eligibility (CDEs) citywide. Reviews determine whether the property has potential for designation.  Properties that do not have potential are cleared for demolition or granted the CDE.  For properties that do have potential, notice of the demolition /CDE application is posted for three weeks.  The executive director of Community Planning and Development, a member of City Council or three residents of Denver may submit a notice of intent to file a designation application, extending the period before a demolition permit may be issued up to 60 days. A city-facilitated stakeholder meeting would also be required by day 40 of the posting period

Landmark designation changes  Day 1 Demo app received  Day 14 App approved or publicly posted  Day 21 Posting deadline  Day 35 Pause if demolition opposed  Day 75 Demo approved or designation submitted  Day 106 Public hearing  Day 120 City council Committee meeting  Day 141 City Council public hearing  Day 145 Mayor’s signature

Smart lease project  Denver beginning a ‘smart lease’ project  Unsure of the goal  Mandatory lease langue regarding energy usage?  Committee meetings just beginning  Surveys sent to Denver building owners

Don’t forget about green roofs  Now called the Green Buildings Ordinance  Applies to the following: • New buildings 25,000 square feet or larger • Roof permits for existing buildings 25,000 square feet or larger - Note: different requirements for roof recovers versus roof replacements • Additions of 25,000 square feet or larger

Overview new buildings  New buildings will need to install a ‘cool roof’ and one additional compliance option from:  Green space/roof  Solar onsite or purchase  Energy efficiency  Green building certification  Payment to fund  Combination approaches

Overview existing  Existing buildings will need to do a ‘cool roof’ and one additional compliance option:  Green space/roof  Solar onsite  Energy efficiency (additions only)  Green building certification  Payment to fund  Energy program (roof permits only) y program (roof permits only)