Privatized Military Housing

Privatized Military Housing: What Title 10 Requires on Pests and Maintenance

Written for: Privatized housing (MHPI) property managers and their corporate owners, installation housing offices, military tenant advocates

Congress rewrote the rules for privatized military family housing in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Pub. L. 116-92). Four provisions in Title 10 of the U.S. Code bear on pests and the records behind them. The text below is from the Law Revision Counsel’s current edition.

The annual review of the landlord’s pest control plan

(1) The installation commander shall be responsible for— (A) reviewing, on an annual basis, the mold mitigation plan and pest control plan of each landlord managing housing units for the installation; and (B) notifying the landlord and the major subordinate command of any deficiencies found in either plan. — 10 U.S.C. 2891a(b)(1)

The statute says “pest control plan.” It does not set the plan’s contents. A landlord can expect the review to look at what the plan says and whether the program follows it. The Multifamily IPM Plan Template gives one structure for such a plan; using it does not mean a plan satisfies any review.

The Tenant Bill of Rights

Section 2890 lists the rights the Military Housing Privatization Initiative Tenant Bill of Rights must address. None of its eighteen paragraphs names pests or mold. The ones that bear on a pest problem:

(1) The right to reside in a housing unit and community that meets applicable health and environmental standards. — 10 U.S.C. 2890(b)(1)

(11) The right to have access to an electronic work order system through which a tenant may request maintenance or repairs of a housing unit and track the progress of the work. — 10 U.S.C. 2890(b)(11)

(12) With respect to maintenance and repairs to a housing unit, the right to the following: (A) Prompt and professional maintenance and repair. (B) To be informed of the required time frame for maintenance or repairs when a maintenance request is submitted. (C) In the case of maintenance or repairs necessary to ensure habitability of a housing unit, to prompt relocation into suitable lodging or other housing at no cost to the tenant until the maintenance or repairs are completed. — 10 U.S.C. 2890(b)(12)

(14) The right to enter into a dispute resolution process, as provided in section 2894 of this title, should all other methods be exhausted and, in which case, a decision in favor of the tenant may include a reduction in rent or an amount to be reimbursed or credited to the tenant. — 10 U.S.C. 2890(b)(14)

Paragraph (b)(7) protects a tenant’s right to report habitability problems without reprisal, and (b)(15) allows a tenant’s housing allowance to be held, with a commander’s approval, while a dispute is resolved.

The seven-year maintenance history

(1) not later than five business days before the prospective tenant is asked to sign the lease, a summary of maintenance conducted with respect to that housing unit for the previous seven years; and (2) not later than two business days after the prospective tenant requests additional information regarding maintenance conducted with respect to that housing unit during such period, all information possessed by the eligible entity or subsequent landlord regarding such maintenance conducted during such period. — 10 U.S.C. 2892a(a)

As enacted in 2019 the provision required “all information regarding maintenance conducted with respect to that housing unit for the previous seven years.” A 2021 amendment changed it to the summary-plus-request form above.

The dispute resolution process

The Secretary concerned shall implement a standardized formal dispute resolution process to ensure the prompt and fair resolution of disputes that arise between landlords providing housing units and tenants residing in housing units concerning maintenance and repairs, damage claims, rental payments, move-out charges, and such other issues relating to housing units as the Secretary determines appropriate. — 10 U.S.C. 2894(a)

The decision by the commander under this subsection shall be final. — 10 U.S.C. 2894(c)(8)

The section’s title is “Landlord-tenant dispute resolution process and treatment of certain payments during process.”

What the statutes ask a landlord to be able to show

Professional synthesis, not law

• A written pest control plan that an installation commander can read in an annual review, and evidence that the program on the ground matches it.
• A work-order history by unit that a tenant can follow electronically, and that can be summarized for seven years back on short notice. Pest work orders are part of what a tenant is likely to ask about; a landlord that cannot produce a unit’s pest history by date will struggle to produce a complete summary.
• For any pest condition that affects habitability, a record of the time frame given to the tenant, whether relocation was offered, and when the work was finished. These are the facts a commander would look at in a dispute under section 2894.

The public oversight record behind these statutes is on The Public Record. Which state law applies on a base is on Federal Enclaves.