City of Austin Requires Landlords to Notify Tenants of CARES Act
On May 21, the City of Austin passed another ordinance targeting landlords in the city. This one requires that landlords disclose whether their property is a covered property under the CARES Act.
As we wrote about previously, the federal CARES Act requires owners of “covered properties” (as defined in the Act) to refrain from evictions, late fees, sending notices to vacate, etc.
On Thursday, the Austin City Council passed an ordinance requiring disclosure of whether a property is a covered property. Under the ordinance, within five days of receiving a request from a tenant, a landlord must provide a disclosure of whether the property is a covered property.
Once the landlord gets a request, it shall a) post the disclosure on the front door of the tenant’s dwelling or b) deliver the disclosure using an email address or web portal the landlord uses to communicate with the tenant in the regular course of business activity.
If a landlord violates this ordinance, it is a separate offense for each day the violation continues. And each offense is punishable by a fine of up to $500.
If you have any questions on this or any other Austin or Travis County ordinance, please call us at 512-643-5693.