Asheville leaders make it illegal to collect rent when housing is unsafe

Asheville has joined Durham and a handful of other municipalities across North Carolina in making it illegal for landlords to collect rent on a property the city has deemed unsafe.

The Asheville City County unanimously approved an amendment to the city’s housing code on Tuesday to give tenants more protection against landlords who don’t make critical repairs to rental units after receiving notices of violations from the city.

City ordinances list 18 criteria under which a rental unit can be ruled unsafe. The lack of hot water, a heating system or smoke detector are among the violations that would qualify a rental property as unsafe.

The amendment would be triggered if a landlord fails to make needed repairs after receiving a notice of violation.

On Tuesday, Mayor Esther Mannheimer cautioned that state law does not allow tenants to withhold rent payments before being granted a judicial right to do so. They  could, however, receive refunds if complaints are not resolved.

Mannheimer acknowledged the challenges the city faces between what state law permits in such circumstances and the amendment the council was asked to consider.

“I think it’s important that we send a signal that we’re not supportive of any landlord that would require rent payment for what is essentially uninhabitable rental property,” Mannheimer said. “This is kind of our only vehicle to do that, because the state does preempt us from taking greater action.” 

Organizers with the Asheville Area Tenants Union (AATU) started pushing for the amendment about 10 months ago after Durham residents successfully lobbied their city council to adopt a similar amendment. 

The union lobbied the council under the banner of “No Room for Slumlords.” 

Success in Durham has other tenant groups eyeing housing code changes

“When we watched Durham do that, we decided that was a fight we needed to have in Asheville,” said Rachel Wyse, an AATU organizer and lifelong Asheville resident. 

Wyse said Asheville has a shortage of affordable housing like many cities and large towns across the state. Rentals that are affordable, she said, are often poorly maintained.

“The people who live in these kinds of spaces are elders on Social Security fixed income, disabled folks on disability fixed income, and then poor people who are service workers who make a lot less than a living wage, and we don’t have anywhere to go,” Wyse said. “These sorts of apartments are the last stop before homelessness.”

Property owners and landlords appeared largely in support of the amendment during Tuesday’s council meeting, but were concerned about what Matt Allen, director of government affairs for the Realtor’s Association, called a “rush to push” the amendment through.

“This could have been an opportunity for responsive rental owners, property managers and tenant advocate groups to come together and craft something that holds bad actors accountable, while also ensuring that unintended and potentially negative consequences for owners and tenants alike are considered and addressed,” Allen said. 

In addition to Asheville and Durham, Charlotte, Pineville and Pittsboro have similar ordinances in place.