From the office of Eric Koch, State Senator
Families should not be punished for the actions of an irresponsible property manager.
Senate Enrolled Act 114 protects tenants from unscrupulous landlords by allowing utility companies to ask courts to appoint receivers over certain landlords who have failed to pay their property's utility bills after collecting the payment in rent from residents.
I filed the bill following reports of an Indiana landlord collecting and keeping utility payments from residents instead of passing them to the complex's utility company. The landlord accrued over $1 million in unpaid bills and water was shut off to hundreds of tenants on the property.
SEA 114 ensures properties of four units or more, excluding cases where tenants directly pay their utility bills, forward payments to the property's utility company.
This bill provides a remedy for enforcement that did not previously exist by establishing safeguards to protect tenants in instances where a landlord doesn't handle their money appropriately.
SEA 114 has been signed into law by the governor. For more information about the bill, click here.