Wednesday, March 26, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Nevada law gives landlords too many rights, says Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, who has introduced legislation that he calls a "Bill of Rights" for tenants.
"State law is heavily weighted in favor of the landlord and that's because in the old days there was a big problem with transients," Goldwater, an apartment tenant, said Tuesday. "Today, apartments are 'home' to many people as areas of the state like Las Vegas are becoming communities.
"They need to have privileges under the law at least equal to that of the landlord."
But Kathy Miller, executive director of the Nevada Apartment Association, said Goldwater has "been driving us crazy." She said he ran for re-election on a tenant rights program and her association opposes many of the items in Assembly Bill 303.
There are about 120,000 apartments in Las Vegas. The association represents about 450 property owners who control 60,000 to 70,000 of those apartments.
The bill, referred to the Assembly Commerce Committee for study, would prohibit a landlord from terminating a tenant, except for cause. And the landlord would have to notify the tenant of the reasons the family is being bounced out of the apartment.
"You gotta have at least a reason to kick somebody out of their apartment," he said.
It would give the apartment dweller the right to sue and, if he or she won, to get the landlord to pay all the court costs.
But Miller said the law should remain the same, permitting landlords to evict tenants without cause. She noted that a renter doesn't have to state a reason when he or she is moving.
If the landlord was required to show cause for the eviction, it would hinder the owner from gaining his own property, Miller said. An example occurred Tuesday, she said, when a new owner bought a complex and wanted to move his mother into one of the units. Under this bill, she said, the owner would have had to show cause to evict someone to do that.
"The landlord should have the right to retrieve his property," she said.
The bill would lower from three months to two months the amount of security a landlord can require.
"I don't want people charging excess deposits," Goldwater said.
In addition, his bill would require the landlord to pay 5 percent interest on the deposit when it is redeemed.
The 5 percent interest, he said, is already in the Nevada mobile home law and "the risk-free rate of return on a Treasury bill right now is around 5 percent."
The association, Miller said, is opposed to reducing the deposit from three to two months and to paying interest. The three-month deposit comes into play most often in renting a home where there can be major damage, such as to a swimming pool. She said the property owner ought to be able to keep the interest earned on the money.
Goldwater's bill would limit the amount of deposit spent on cleaning up an apartment to "customary costs" in the area.
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