Duluth voters could see competing rental rights laws on November ballot

DULUTH – Dueling tenant rental-rights measures could be on the November ballot here, with choices between an ordinance built by local renters and a political advocacy group and another authored by several city councilors.

Duluth’s City Council on Tuesday night rejected 6-2 the citizen-led ordinance that advocates say will help renters get timely basic repairs, and approved one that its authors say will do the same thing in a legally sound way.

Councilor Roz Randorf has for months said the right-to-repair ordinance would leave renters exposed to legal trouble; they could be sued by a landlord if a repair project arranged by the renter goes awry, for example.

Randorf said the alternative ordinance she helped write “puts the real power in the hands of the city to enforce safe housing without punishing the people we’re trying to protect.”

The right-to-repair measure from Duluth Tenants is already destined for the ballot after organizers gathered 6,000 petition signatures, more than 3,700 certified as valid. The City Council could have chosen to adopt that ordinance Tuesday, eliminating the need for a November vote.

Instead, its own ordinance will be effective in 60 days. The council could also decide to pit it against the other in the next election to avoid having two such ordinances on the books.

The tenants group has complained about long lag times for resolution from city inspectors and from landlords who ignore complaints. Its ordinance, backed by St. Paul-based TakeAction Minnesota, would require renters to provide written notice to a landlord that a “common” repair is needed, with the cost deducted from rent if it’s not scheduled or corrected within two weeks. After that, the tenant could hire a licensed contractor.

The ordinance would say the reimbursement cost can’t exceed a half-month’s rent or $500, whichever is greater, and would prohibit landlords from retaliating.

The ordinance written by council President Terese Tomanek, Councilor Lynn Nephew and Randorf would require landlords to respond to tenants’ repair requests within 14 days, but would include city oversight and use fines and citations to punish unresponsive landlords, escalating penalties to license cancellation. It also requires a landlord education course every three years and proof it was taken.

Duluthian Aaron Rose told the council that his landlord refused to fix a door with a broken lock that was flagged by a city inspector. Rose attached his own padlock in the meantime, and the city marked the repair as complete instead of putting the onus on the landlord, Rose said. When he complained to the city, he was told it would be checked at the next inspection in three years.

The councilors’ ordinance “offers more bureaucracy in place of power,” Rose said.

Riley Barnhardt, Lake Superior Area Realtors government affairs director, said his organization opposes the tenants group proposal.

It introduces confusion by allowing tenants to deduct repair costs from rental payments without prior inspection and presumes retaliation for routine business decisions like rent increases, he said. It also fails to outline coordination of tenant-initiated repairs with existing permit and inspection processes, leaving landlords liable for unpermitted work they didn’t initiate, he said.

“It’s inviting disorder into an already heavily regulated space,” Barnhardt said, and will have “real-world impacts” on the rental market.

Several councilors poked holes in the citizen ordinance, pointing out unclear language and the possibility that tenants will be stuck with charges over $500.

Councilor Arik Forsman said the text of the right-to-repair ordinance can’t be amended by the city if problems arise; the city charter would require another ballot measure to enact any change. He attacked TakeAction Minnesota’s involvement in St. Paul’s voter-approved rent control ordinance, saying it caused a reduction in housing sale prices, property values and rental properties. The nonprofit’s involvement in that ballot measure “almost killed the St. Paul housing market,” he said, but St. Paul charter allowed its City Council to make changes.

Duluth Tenants leader DyAnna Grondahl said in an interview their effort is related to repairs, not rent control.

“I started Duluth Tenants after going an entire year, an entire lease, with a broken door,” she said. “We are fighting for Duluth right-to-repair because we know that renters across the city are not getting what they need.”

Tomanek said that if enough petition signers withdraw their names within the next 10 days, the citizen-led ordinance would not appear on the ballot.