Last month, NLIHC and our national partners launched the National Tenants Bill of Rights in a major step towards shifting more power to renters and advancing tenant protections. Written with direct input from tenant leaders, people with lived experience of housing instability, housing law experts, and advocates nationwide, the policy agenda provides a bold, legislative framework to enshrine tenants’ rights throughout their tenancy in private as well as federally assisted properties. Support NLIHC’s IDEAS work by endorsing the National Tenants Bill of Rights!
Our nation’s 114 million renters deserve safe, stable, and healthy homes. With corporate landlords and private equity investors continuing to take advantage of the exploitative housing system, it is the federal government’s duty to take immediate action and pass legislation to enshrine comprehensive federal tenant protections and empower renters across the country. Though the National Tenants Bill of Rights is meant to build momentum at the national level, any level of government can use this policy as a roadmap for strengthening tenants’ rights in the rental market.
The National Tenants Bill of Rights sets out seven essential rights that establish a baseline of tenant protections in the rental housing market. These rights follow a tenant’s experience from applying for housing and signing a lease to living in their home. The National Tenants Bill of Rights includes rights to:
A Fair Application – Discriminatory screening practices by landlords and tenant screening companies prevent prospective tenants from being fairly considered when they apply for housing. To ensure fair opportunity for all, landlords should only consider information relevant to an applicant’s ability to perform their obligations as a tenant.
A Fair Lease – Leases shape the legal relationship between landlords and tenants, often reflecting the imbalance of power. To correct this imbalance, leases should clearly define the duties and rights of both landlords and tenants and avoid predatory and deceptive terms.
Freedom from Discrimination and Harassment – Home should be a sanctuary for tenants. Currently, tenants are vulnerable to discrimination, violations of privacy, and harassment by their landlords. To ensure a basic level of privacy and quiet enjoyment, tenants should have the tools to prevent this behavior. Tenants also need the federal government to robustly enforce federal anti-discrimination laws to prevent landlord abuses.
A Habitable Home – Tenants deserve to feel safe in their homes. Safe homes include working appliances and fixtures, reliable utilities, effective pest control, and prevention from deadly health hazards. When something is in need of repair, tenants should have a clear way to communicate their concerns to a landlord and the landlord should be obligated to fix habitability concerns promptly.
Reasonable Rent and Costs – Rent is often the largest expense in a household’s budget, and financial stability is largely absent in a system where landlords hike rents dramatically higher and at a faster rate than the growth of wages. To protect tenants from financial shocks that put them at risk of eviction and further harm, safeguards are necessary to prevent rent gouging and excessive or hidden fees. Landlords should be limited to reasonable rent increases, and they should only be allowed to assess fees that have been clearly disclosed in the lease.
Organize – To correct the power imbalance between tenants and landlords, tenants must have the ability to organize without fear of retaliation or eviction from landlords, owners, and management.
Safeguards against Evictions – Tenants should not have to risk losing their homes in eviction court in a manner of minutes. Tenants deserve a basic level of due process in eviction proceedings as well as protections from illegal evictions and evictions without good cause.
We encourage advocates to endorse the National Tenants Bill of Rights using this form, which allows individuals (denoted by “renter” or “homeowner”), organizations, elected officials, and candidates to publicly support the platform.
Individuals, organizations, elected officials, and candidates can endorse the National Tenants Bill of Rights here.
Read the National Tenants Bill of Rights, section summaries, and a factsheet here