An ordinance passed by the Laramie City Council that requires landlords register their rental housing units, sets minimum habitability standards for those units, and establishes a process for tenants to file complaints has survived a court challenge and will likely take effect on January 1st.
“The purpose of the City Rental Housing Code is to provide minimum habitability criteria to safeguard health, property and public wellbeing of the owners, occupants and users of rental housing and is intended to supplement rather than conflict with the habitability standards in Wyoming State statutes,” the ordinance states.
Shortly after it was passed, however, it was challenged in court by Bell LLC, a local property company.
Bell LLC alleged that the city did not have the authority to create such regulations under Wyoming law and that it violated landlords’ due process rights because of the overly vague language regarding the methods of enforcing the ordinance.
The challenge ultimately led to the Albany County District Court striking parts of the ordinance down for containing “unconstitutionally vague” language regarding the enforcement of the regulations.
“The Court finds that the plain language of the Ordinance as written is unconstitutionally vague. The Ordinance fails to clarify: whether any hearing before the municipal court would be civil or criminal in nature: what rules, trial procedure, and appellate procedure apply: and whether a failure to comply with the city manager’s notice and order is, itself, a per se violation,” the court wrote in its opinion.
However, the court ruled that the city had the right to create such regulations, meaning that if the city went back and fixed the parts of the ordinance that were unconstitutionally vague, the ordinance would be legal and enforceable. Bell LLC initially appealed this part of the ruling to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
On Tuesday of last week, the Laramie City Council indicated that they would make the requested modifications to the enforcement mechanisms, according to City Attorney Rob Southard.
The rewritten ordinance will likely include additional detail on these mechanisms, such as whether violations will result in civil or criminal suits, as these aspects are what the court took issue with in the decision.
After this development, Bell LLC dropped its appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court, meaning that the district court’s ruling is final, as the city is also choosing not to appeal.
Bell LLC’s reason for dropping the appeal is not currently known. The City of Laramie also appears to be unaware as to their thinking.
“It’s unusual that they dismissed their appeal,” Southard said in a public statement. “Since [the city is] not appealing, we need to conform the ordinance to the judge’s ruling, so that’s what we’re going to be working on.”
These developments are a significant victory for advocates of renter’s rights and mean that the city is extremely likely to be able to begin enforcement of the ordinance on January 1st, assuming the city is able to pass the necessary amendments before that date, as is the current plan.
