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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nIn an issue shadowed by soaring rental costs across the state, the House on Thursday passed a heavily debated bill that could lead to landlords collecting monthly fees instead of security deposits from renters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The House voted 89-22 to approve the bill (HB 133), which supporters said would provide an option to help renters get into apartments without having to come up with potentially thousands of dollars in upfront money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But opponents said the fees would not be capped and that renters wouldn\u2019t be able to eventually recoup the money like they might with security deposits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a poor tax, plain as day,\u201d Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Supporters disputed such characterizations, saying the fees would be optional for landlords and renters. Bill sponsor Jim Mooney, R-Islamorada, also said such fee arrangements are already being used and that the bill would place \u201cguardrails\u201d on the practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is not a tax on the poor,\u201d Rep. Tiffany Esposito, R-Fort Myers, said. \u201cThis is an option for them, for everyone to have access to housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A similar Senate bill (SB 494) was approved Wednesday by the Rules Committee and is ready to go to the full Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the bill, landlords would be able to offer the option of paying monthly fees instead of security deposits, though landlords would not be required to do so. Renters would decide whether to pay the fees or deposits. Also, renters who choose fees could subsequently decide to pay security deposits and end the fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on other areas where fees are used, Mooney said a renter would pay an average $25 monthly fee on a $1,500-a-month lease. Landlords could use the money to buy a type of insurance that would help pay for damage to units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But renters would not be able to get the fees back after they move out and could be held responsible for damage, Nixon said. She likened the fees to payday loans and described them as \u201cperpetual junk fees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis bill targets low-income, working-class people, period,\u201d Nixon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Robin Bartleman, a Weston Democrat who supported the bill, described a childhood experience of her mother struggling to scrape together money for a security deposit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis (the proposed fees) is a choice. This is an option for someone,\u201d Bartleman said. \u201cThe fee\u2019s capped when you sign that dotted line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mooney pushed back against the \u201cjunk free\u201d description, calling it \u201cnonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before passing the bill, the House approved an amendment that would allow landlords and renters to agree on installment plans to pay security deposits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Supporters say HB 133 would provide an option to help renters get into apartments without having to come up with In an issue shadowed by soaring rental costs across the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":57779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2281],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57780,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57778\/revisions\/57780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}