(a) Any tenant subject to a reduction or elimination of service or equipment which the landlord is required to maintain and that the landlord provided when the tenancy began may file a complaint under this Chapter, alleging breach of the lease. The Commission, after completing the administrative process specified in Article V and finding such a breach, may award damages, order the landlord to reduce the rent in an amount commensurate with the actual cost savings accruable to the landlord as a result of reducing the service or equipment, or both.
(b) Any transfer or conversion of responsibility from the landlord to the tenant of any utility payments, including submetering and individual metering systems, must comply with the following process:
(1) A landlord must not transfer responsibility for utility payments to an existing tenant unless the affected tenant receives written notice of the transfer at least 2 months before the conversion takes effect. The date of receipt must not be counted as part of the 2-month period. Written notice may be delivered to the tenant by any reasonable means. However, a notice has not been delivered unless the notice was mailed via the United States Postal Service to the tenant's dwelling unit or a signed receipt is obtained from the tenant or the tenant's representative. If the tenant is notified by mail, the landlord must certify, by affidavit dated at the time of mailing, that the landlord has mailed the notice. The landlord must retain a copy of the affidavit in the landlord's records. For the purposes of these notice requirements, the day after the postmark date is the date of delivery if the notice was delivered to the proper person by the Postal Service. It is presumptive evidence in favor of the landlord that proper notice was given if these procedures are followed. There is a rebuttable presumption that proper notice was not delivered if these procedures are not followed.
(2) The notice of the utility conversion must be accompanied by an offer to reduce the affected tenant's rent in an amount commensurate with the actual utility consumption experienced by the landlord during the previous 24 months at the utility rate in effect at the time of the conversion. The offer of reduced rent must be based on the average actual utility consumption at the property, less common area utility expenses. The offer may also be based on reasonable factors such as unit size, unit location, and, at the discretion of the landlord, other unusual circumstances. The offer must be made in the form of a monthly reduction in rental rates effective on the date of the conversion.
(3) Any lease or renewal lease must disclose the landlords' intent, if any, to transfer or convert responsibility for utility payments to the tenant during the term of the lease. Failure to make this disclosure allows a tenant to terminate the lease. For the purpose of this Section, the term "intent" means that the landlord has entered into a contract to install submeters or individual meters or applied for electrical permits for their installation.
(4) The transfer of financial responsibility for utilities must take effect at the start of a rent payment cycle.
(5) After completing the notice procedures in subsection (b)(1), the landlord during normal business hours may enter the tenant's unit, after a two-day written notice and without reasonable objection from the tenant, to install metering, wiring, and other equipment necessary to the utility conversion. Access for all other purposes is governed by Section 29-27(p).
(6) Any submetering action must comply with regulations of the state Public Service Commission.
(c) Subsections (a) and (b) do not allow a landlord to reduce or eliminate any essential service or equipment required by law. Subsections (a) and (b) do not apply to temporary interruptions of service or equipment otherwise maintained by the landlord. In the case of temporary interruptions of service or equipment, the Commission may award the tenant actual damages, if any, that resulted from a breach of the lease or the negligence of the landlord. (1981 L.M.C., ch. 34, § 2; 1983 L.M.C., ch. 24, § 11; 1985 L.M.C., ch. 40, § 1; 2000 L.M.C., ch. 32, § 1.)
Editor's note—Section 29-34, formerly § 29-30D, was renumbered and amended pursuant to 2000 L.M.C., ch. 32, § 1. 1983 L.M.C. ch. 24, § 13 provides in part as follows: "The amendments to chapter 29 approved by this act shall be repealed and of no force or effect on or after March 8, 1985." This sentence was deleted by 1985 L.M.C., ch. 40, §1, thus giving the law permanent status.