Signed by Governor Pete Ricketts

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes district and county courts have jurisdiction over complaints of unlawful and forcible entry into lands and tenements.

Highlights:

• Establishes district and county courts have jurisdiction over complaints of unlawful and forcible entry into lands and tenements and the detention of the same and of complaints against those who, having a lawful and peaceable entry into lands or tenements, unlawfully and by force hold the same (Sec. 1).

• Specifies if there is noncompliance materially affecting health and safety or material noncompliance by the tenant with the rental agreement or any separate agreement, the landlord may deliver a written notice to the tenant specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate upon a date not less than thirty days after receipt of the notice if the breach is not remedied in fourteen days, and the rental agreement shall terminate as provided in the notice (Sec. 5-1).

• Prohibits activities including, but not be limited to, any of the following of the tenant, occupant, member of the tenant's household, guest, or another person who is under the tenant's control or who is present upon the premises with the tenant's consent (Sec. 5-4):

• Physical assault or the threat of physical assault;

• Illegal use of a firearm or other weapon or the threat of illegal use of a firearm or other weapon; 

• Possession of a controlled substance if the tenant knew or should have known of the possession, unless such controlled substance was obtained directly from or according to a medical order issued by a practitioner legally authorized to prescribe while acting in the course of his or her professional practice; or 

• Any other activity or threatened activity that would otherwise threaten the health or safety of any person or involving threatened, imminent, or actual damage to the property.

• Authorizes a tenant who is a victim of an act of domestic violence or whose household member is a victim of an act of domestic violence to obtain a release from a rental agreement if the tenant or household member has (Sec. 6-1):

• Obtained a protective order, restraining order, or other similar relief which applies to the perpetrator of the act of domestic violence; or

• Obtained certification confirming domestic violence.

• Authorizes the court to grant a continuance for good cause shown by either party, but no subsequent continuance can be granted except by agreement or unless extraordinary cause is shown to the court. For any subsequent continuance extending the initial trial date into the next periodic rental period, the court may require a tenant to deposit with the clerk of the court such rental payments as accrue during the pendency of the suit (Sec. 9).

• If no mailing address or delivery instructions are provided by the tenant to the landlord, the landlord will mail, by first-class mail, the balance of the rental deposit to be returned, if any, and the written statement regarding any amounts withheld to the tenant's last-known mailing address (Sec. 10-1).

• Requires the Supreme Court to electronically submit a report to the Clerk of the Legislature that includes, for the preceding six months the following information about eviction proceedings, broken down by county (Sec. 14-1):

• The number of eviction proceedings initiated;

• The number of tenants represented by counsel;

• The number of landlords represented by counsel;

• The number of orders granting restitution of the premises entered by default; and

• The numbers of orders granting restitution of the premises entered, broken down by the specific statutory authority under which possession was sought.

Full Bill Text