States Introduce Multiple Tenant Protections Bills This Legislative Session, Securing Several Wins for Renters Rights

With state-level legislative sessions having ended or nearing their official end this month, lawmakers in states across the nation have signaled a clear commitment to introducing and advancing tenant protection legislation. Not only have lawmakers introduced legislation to strengthen tenants’ rights, but state-level lawmakers have shown clear interest in moving to protect tenants against long-standing threats to housing stability, including a lack of affordable housing and rental costs that are too high for the lowest-income renters.

In 2024, states across the nation have introduced tenant protection legislation related to eviction record sealing and expungement protections; “just cause” eviction standards; laws that strengthen code enforcement procedures and habitability standards; laws that expand notice-period requirements for tenants facing eviction; laws that would create or expand landlord-tenant mediation programs; laws that clarify or prohibit harmful tenant screening requirements; right to counsel laws; rent stabilization laws; laws that limit “junk fees”; and even laws to repeal existing state-level preemptions on rent stabilization.

Tenant protections, passed in the form of laws and policies, are critical tools for preventing evictions and keeping renters stably housed. By passing laws to strengthen renters’ rights, the presence of such laws can ensure that tenants can access safe and affordable housing with fewer barriers to entry – often perpetuated by source-of-income discrimination or inequitable tenant screening practices that can result in denials to tenants based on their status as public assistance voucher holders or their credit and rental histories. Such laws can also ensure that tenants are able to maintain their housing over the long term, free from unjust discrimination and harassment. During the pandemic, state and local jurisdictions were quick to recognize the crucial role tenant protections play in preventing evictions and ensuring housing stability for the most marginalized households.

As the pandemic led to wide-scale job losses for millions of families in the U.S., a staggering number of individuals fell behind on their rental payments as a result, leading to a nationwide renter arrears crisis in which renters owed a combined total of as much as $57 billion in past-due rent in 2021. In addition to the federal eviction moratorium, which helped prevent evictions for as many as 1.36 million renter households across the country, other pandemic-specific eviction safe harbors – including landlord-tenant mediation programs, right to counsel policies, and laws that mandated a landlord or property owner could not evict a tenant while an emergency rental assistance application was pending –led to significant drops in eviction filings. In 2023, the Eviction Lab at Princeton University found that, in 31 of the cities it tracked, eviction filings fell by more than half compared to rates in preceding years, with cities such as Pittsburgh seeing an 81.2% decrease in eviction filings between March 15, 2020, and December 31, 2021.

However, given the present-day lack of federal tenant protections, state and local jurisdictions play a crucial role not only in ensuring that all renters benefit from basic renter safeguards but in rectifying the pronounced power imbalance that exists between landlords and renters – an imbalance that often leaves tenants at the will of their landlords. Since January 2021, NLIHC has tracked the passage of more than 332 tenant protections that have been passed at the state- and local-levels, with over 40 states and 128 localities having passed new, permanent protections for tenants in a three-year span since the pandemic.

The following trends are evident in tenant protections passed this legislative session:

Eviction Record Sealing and Expungement Measures

Eviction record sealing and expungement laws are protections that seek to minimize the negative consequences of having an eviction filing present on a tenant’s public record by making them inaccessible to landlords, property owners, and all third parties, including credit screening companies. Through eviction record sealing laws, a tenant’s eviction record is hidden from public view, while eviction record expungement laws completely remove an eviction record from public view.

In 2024, nine states introduced legislation to create or expand eviction record sealing and/or expungement laws, including Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Utah, and Virginia. Idaho (passed through “Senate Bill 1327”), Maryland (passed through “Senate Bill 19’), and Virginia (passed through “House Bill 73”) all passed protections for renters. Minnesota also passed mandatory expungement protections for tenants through “SF 3492,” which will require a tenant’s eviction record to be wiped clean if (1) the eviction case was dismissed; (2) both parties agree to the expungement; (3) the eviction case was ruled in favor of the tenant; or (4) three years have passed since the eviction was ordered against the tenant.

“Just Cause” Eviction Standards

Known also as “good cause” or “for cause” laws, “just cause” eviction protections limit the reasons or causes for which a landlord can evict a tenant or refuse to renew a tenant’s lease when the tenant is not at fault or found to be in violation of any law. Instead, just cause eviction standards explicitly define the reasons for which a tenant can be evicted, including reasons such as non-payment of rent or another verifiable violation of the tenant’s lease agreement.

Eight states introduced just cause eviction laws this legislative session: Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, New York, and Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. Colorado secured just cause protections for renters, passing “House Bill 1098” this session to prohibit eviction proceedings without verifiable cause. Under Colorado’s just cause law, a landlord or property owner can only evict a tenant for reasons such as a violation of the tenant’s lease, nuisance, or for a “no-fault” reason such as demolition of the rental unit.

Laws Strengthening Code Enforcement Procedures and Habitability Standards

Under code enforcement and habitability laws, municipalities seek to increase the enforcement of and uphold administrative housing codes to ensure the safety and quality of residential dwelling units. By passing such laws, lawmakers mandate that landlords and property owners ensure that residences are fit for habitation and that essential services like electricity, running water, and functioning heating and cooling systems are present.

Four states introduced code enforcement or habitability laws this session: Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, and Virginia. Colorado passed protections for tenants through “Senate Bill 24-094,” while Georgia led a historic campaign to enact “House Bill 404,” a landmark piece of legislation that mandates that all residential units meet a minimum set of habitability standards for renters.

Laws Expanding Notice Period Requirements

Laws that expand notice period requirements aim to increase a tenant’s access to timely information and/or require landlords to provide information prior to filing an eviction, such as information related to notices to quit, intentions to file an eviction, availability of emergency rental assistance (if applicable), and other resources or information that could prevent eviction.

Five states – Arizona, Florida, Hawai’i, Illinois, Virginia, and Washington – introduced such legislation, with Virginia passing “House Bill 86” to require landlords and property owners to give tenants advance notice of how much they owe in eviction cases.

Laws Creating or Expanding Landlord Tenant Mediation Programs

Landlord-tenant mediation programs, often offered as a service for tenants facing the threat of eviction, help resolve landlord-tenant disputes before an eviction filing or judgement is levied against a tenant.

Four states – Florida, Hawai’i, Maryland, and Virginia – introduced such legislation this year, though none of the four states secured passage of the legislation.

Laws Clarifying or Prohibiting Harmful Tenant Screening Practices

Tenant screening practices, which often include checks into a tenant’s background, rental history, or credit history, can lead to barriers preventing tenants from being able to secure safe, stable, and affordable housing of their choosing. When such laws are passed, states and local governments enact prohibitions on the information that could potentially result in the denial of housing, including the presence of a past eviction filing.

In 2024, three states – Hawai’i, Illinois, and Virginia – introduced such laws, but none of the three states secured the passage of the legislation.

Right to Counsel Laws

Right to counsel laws guarantee that tenants who are facing eviction will have legal representation in court. Right to counsel policies are an important tool used to rectify the power imbalance between landlords and tenants in eviction court. According to the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel, in eviction cases nationwide, 83% of landlords have representation in court while only 4% of tenants do.

In 2024, six states – Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, and South Carolina – all introduced right to counsel laws. Nebraska’s law (passed through “Legislative Bill 840”) was the only state to secure such protections but only for tenants residing in public housing. Moreover, Nebraska’s right to counsel law only applies to cities that have a population of at least 400,000 residents.

Laws Repealing Existing Preemptions

Preemption laws shift the power to enact laws from the lower levels of government to a higher level of government, typically from a locality to a state. In the case of tenant protection laws, preemptions remove the authority of lower levels of government to pass, enact, or preside over issues related to landlords and tenants and grant the power to the state.

This session, Massachusetts and Minnesota both introduced legislation that would repeal existing preemptions on rent stabilization, allowing localities within the state to enact rent stabilization measures. Both states failed to pass the legislation.

Rent Stabilization Laws

Rent stabilizations laws or policies prohibit a landlord or property owner from increasing a tenant’s rent by a certain amount each year to prevent excessive rent hikes that price a tenant out of their housing. When such laws are implemented, they regulate both the speed and amount by which rent can be increased.

This legislative session, both Massachusetts and Washington introduced legislation to cap rental limits across the state, though neither piece of legislation was passed. Washington’s “House Bill 2114,” a statewide effort to repeal the state’s ban on rent control and enact rent stabilization protections, was widely supported by tenant advocates and members of other housing-justice focused organizations, including NLIHC state partner Washington Low Income Housing Alliance. The bill, which would have prohibited a landlord from increasing a tenant’s rent by more than 7% in a year, passed through the House but ultimately died in the Senate. As of 2024, there are only three states – California, Oregon, and the District of Columbia – to have enacted statewide rent stabilization measures.

Laws Limiting “Junk Fees”

“Junk fees” are rental fees that exacerbate the rental housing unaffordability crisis by requiring tenants to pay additional costs on top of their base rental payments. Laws or policies that seek to place caps on the amount of money that a landlord or property owner can charge renters over the course of a tenant’s lease term crack down on “junk fees.” During a tenant’s lease term, these laws seek to increase transparency in the rental housing market by uncovering any hidden, surprise, or arbitrary rental fees, including convenience fees, processing fees, administrative fees, excessive late fees, security deposit fees, and utility fees. Junk fee legislation has grown in popularity in recent years, with the White House releasing a brief in 2023 that exposed the harmful nature of rising rental costs.

In 2024, six states introduced legislation to cap rental fees: Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, Washington, and Rhode Island. Rhode Island passed legislation (“House Bill 7647”) to limit convenience fees, strengthening a prior bill passed in 2023 that would place caps on rental application fees. Under Rhode Island’s law, a landlord is required to list all mandatory fees when advertising the rental property, including disclosing all mandatory fees in a tenant’s lease agreement. For landlords who do not disclose any required fees, a tenant may recover any of the undisclosed fees paid. Minnesota also advanced legislation to establish protections against junk fees. Under “SF 3492,” a landlord or property owner is prohibited from charging a fee for a tenant’s service animal as well as late fees for nonpayment of rent.

Summary Table of State Tenant Protections Introduced and/or Passed in the 2024 Legislative Session

State Preemption Bills

Finally, as states continue to show interest in passing tenant protections and strengthening renters’ rights, some have also introduced legislation to take away those rights. Several bills seeking to create preemptions, which are laws that remove the power of localities to enact tenant protections laws and reserve this right solely to the state, have been successfully passed in 2024. Following the lead of Florida and Texas, which passed sweeping tenant protections preemption bills in 2023, Kentucky, Idaho, and Missouri all passed preemption bills this year.

Passed through “House Bill 18,” Kentucky enacted a source-of-income preemption bill that would allow landlords to discriminate against tenants based on their lawful and verifiable income source. Such laws would disproportionately impact Section 8 Voucher Holders, as landlords would not be required to accept vouchers from tenants, leaving tenants to face barriers in finding housing due to their status. Idaho passed a similar bill this year through “House Bill 545.”  

In Missouri, lawmakers passed a preemption bill (“House Bill 2062”) that would prohibit localities from enacting eviction moratoriums, making this a power granted solely to the state. 

Recognizing the critical role that tenant protections play in keeping renters stably housed, NLIHC launched the “State and Local Innovation” (SLI) project in April 2024 to support states and localities in advancing, implementing, and enforcing state and local tenant protections. In addition to working to strengthen tenants’ rights, the State and Local Innovation project is committed to supporting municipalities in creating and sustaining emergency rental assistance programs, preventing the criminalization of homelessness, and supporting the advancement of other housing innovations that seek to keep eviction rates down and prevent homelessness.

For more information on the tenant protections that NLIHC tracks, please visit: https://nlihc.org/tenant-protections

For more information on NLIHC’s SLI project, please visit: https://nlihc.org/state-and-local-innovation

If you are aware of a tenant protection that has been implemented in your state or locality that is not in the State and Local Tenant Protection Database, please contact SLI project coordinator Nada Hussein at [email protected].