Landlord and tenant; noncompliance with rental agreement, reporting negative credit information.

Landlord and tenant; noncompliance with rental agreement; prohibition on using negative credit information arising from the COVID-19 pandemic against applicants for tenancy; penalty. Provides that a landlord who owns more than four rental dwelling units or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four rental dwelling units in the Commonwealth shall not take any adverse action against an applicant for tenancy based solely on payment history or an eviction for nonpayment of rent that occurred during the period beginning on March 12, 2020, and ending 30 days after the expiration or revocation of any state of emergency declared by the Governor related to the COVID-19 pandemic. If such a landlord denies an applicant for tenancy, the bill requires the landlord to provide the applicant written notice of the denial and of the applicant's right to assert that his failure to qualify was based upon payment history or an eviction based on nonpayment of rent that occurred during the proscribed period. If a landlord does receive a response from the applicant asserting such a right, and the landlord relied upon a consumer or tenant screening report, the landlord must make a good faith effort to contact the generator of the report to ascertain whether such determination was due solely to the applicant for tenancy's payment history or an eviction for nonpayment that occurred during the proscribed period. The bill permits a tenant or applicant for tenancy to recover damages of up to $1,000, along with attorney fees, from landlords who do not comply with these requirements.