Earlier this month, Lexington's Urban County Council passed an ordinance that would prohibit housing providers from discriminating based on a tenant's "source of income". That ordinance is set to take effect tomorrow, March 1. The upshot of the ordinance is that if a tenant applies and qualifies to live at your rental property, you could not reject that tenant because part of their income includes a housing voucher, such as Section 8 vouchers. However, the state legislature has been considering two bills that would prohibit local governments from adopting or enforcing such ordinances ..read more

In this post in late October I let you know that a Legal Aid attorney filed a motion in one of my eviction cases arguing that the CARES Act is still alive and requires certain housing providers to give 30-day notices. Since then, two Fayette District Court judges have ruled that the CARES Act does NOT apply and seven-day notices to pay or vacate are acceptable. However, on January 26, one of the five Fayette District Court judges ruled differently, holding that the CARES Act still requires 30-day notices to pay or vacate. So, as of January 30, here’s where things stand in Lexington: Two judge ..read more

So, today’s the day. This evening at 6:00 the LFUCG Social Services and Public Safety Committee will hear public comment on the proposed ordinance that would require housing providers to accept all forms of lawful income, including two very problematic sources: Section 8 vouchers and income from other individuals. I’ve already said most of what needs to be said about this issue, but I do want to comment on a couple of points in case I’m not able to speak tonight at the meeting. My daughter has a basketball event, so I won’t be able to stay at the meeting very long. THE SECTION 8 PROGRAM IS A ..read more

Yesterday a Legal Aid attorney representing a tenant in one of my eviction cases filed a motion to dismiss the case because the housing provider failed to give a 30-day notice to pay or vacate. The argument was that the housing provider is covered by the CARES Act because they accept Section 8 vouchers and the 30-day notice requirement of the CARES Act never expired. Therefore, the case should be dismissed because the housing provider only gave a seven-day notice instead of a 30-day notice. Now, this was an unprecedented argument. No one has even thought about the CARES Act in Kentucky since ..read more

              Hey gang. Stephen Marshall from kylandlordlaw.com back with you with another update on this Section 8 stuff.             A couple of days ago I attended the LFUCG Social Services & Public Safety Committee meeting and listened to the presentation by Charlie Lanter, LFUCG’s Housing Commissioner, proposing to make it illegal for housing providers to refuse to accept Section 8 vouchers in certain situations. After the presentation, committee members asked questions to Mr. Lanter and to Austin Simms and two other mem ..read more

If you are a landlord in Lexington, I have bad news, and I mean very bad news. On October 10 at 1:00 p.m. Charlie Lanter, LFUCG’s Housing Commissioner, will be making a presentation about Source of Income Discrimination to the LFUCG Social Services & Public Safety Committee meeting. They already have a draft of an ordinance, and my guess is that they are looking to move this train down the tracks quickly.  Source of Income Discrimination?? What does that even mean? Well, there’s a technical legal answer to that question and there’s a practical answer. We’ll start with the technical l ..read more

The Kentucky General Assembly recently wrapped up its 2023 Legislative Session. There was no movement on most of the bills that would have been detrimental to rental owners, but one bill was passed into law that is concerning.  KRS 376.010 is known as the Mechanic's Lien Statute. You can read it here. It lays out the terms under which a contractor has the right to put a lien on real estate because he provided labor or materials to improve the property but was not paid for his work. Liens were available if the contractor provided the labor or materials under an agreement wi ..read more

I'm gonna keep it short today. Here are a 10 missteps that could derail your eviction case. You're only as strong as your weakest link, so make sure everyone on your staff knows these rules. Once you've filed an eviction, don't send any more notices. Pay special attention to any software that might auto-generate a notice each month. Make sure you terminate a month-to-month lease at the end of a rental period. Don't accept rent after issuing a termination notice for a material lease violation. Don't accept rent after a deadline to vacate when non-renewing a lease or month-to-month tenanc ..read more

RENTAL ASSISTANCE UPDATE Lexington's rental assistance program has become much more landlord-friendly. The Housing Stabilization Program has removed the 45-day waiting period and the 30-day notice requirement from its settlement agreements. This means that if your tenant receives assistance but fails to resume paying rent once the money runs out, you may proceed to give your usual notice to pay or vacate immediately rather than waiting for 45 days then giving a 30-day notice. This is good news that should encourage more landlords to participate in the program and get their rent paid. The sett ..read more

There's been a lot of talk in Lexington about adopting a set of proposals being called the "Tenant's Bill of Rights". That talk sounds good. We're all in favor of rights for everyone - so why not rights for tenants? No one in history worth remembering ever opposes a "bill of rights", right? This crusade is an excellent example of framing an issue to gain sympathy and support from those who don't have the time or the interest to look further into the issues. But here's the truth of the matter: tenants in Lexington already have a "bill of rights". It was created back in 1984 when the Lexington ..read more