What Are Confidentiality Laws Between Tenants and Landlords?
Landlord-tenant confidentiality laws are a set of legal principles governing the release of information regarding a landlord-tenant relationship. Typically, only disclosures which are required or authorized by law can be made when such disclosure would result in the disclosure of private, confidential or sensitive information about the other party in a landlord-tenant relationship . This is just a general overview of the standards which apply to such disclosures. A Houston apartment disclosure lawyer may better serve you in assisting with questions or concerns you may have about a landlord-tenant confidentiality law.
Overview of Legal Protections for Tenants
The legal protections for tenant personal information are found in the statutes rules for privacy in the landlord tenant act. In Washington, state laws protect individuals from unlawful disclosure of personal information to protect tenant privacy. Since these laws provide protections for tenants, an understanding of their scope is relevant for tenants and their landlords.
Under the confidentiality statutes, a property owner is not permitted to disclose certain confidential information that belongs to a tenant without the tenant’s consent. Generally, a tenant has the right to review any information collected and held by a property owner and object to any inaccuracies, including getting a non-compliance notice in place with applicable consumer reporting agencies.
Some of the information that is protected under federal and state laws includes:
• A social security number
• A driver’s license number
• A financial account number
• A credit report
• Any information related to an account held by a consumer reporting agency, and
• Any other identifying information for the tenant
Washington State law prohibits landowners from unlawfully disclosing this information to another person except under specific circumstances. Generally, violating confidentiality laws is a gross misdemeanor enforceable with fines and possible jail time.
Landlord’s Obligations Under Confidentiality Laws
Here are a few common expectations where landlords are expected to maintain confidentiality:
Discretion with Access
The biggest tenant complaint against landlords that can be stated as a matter of course relates to unauthorized entry. Unless otherwise required by law, you must limit access to your rental units unless the tenant has provided consent. This is true even when presented with a warrant, as discussed here. Even when granted permission, landlords should limit access to "reasonably necessary" hours, so as to not unduly interfere with quiet enjoyment of tenants.
Keeping Trade Secrets Secret
Many businesses often have valuable confidential or proprietary business information, such as leases and forms, that must be kept secret. Similar to how an employee may sign a non-disclosure agreement upon being hired, your business may also require a nondisclosure agreement to be signed by persons inside (or out) of a landlord-tenant relationship. Even if an agreement does not exist, generally speaking, the disclosure could be actionable if the landlord willfully disregarded an expectation of confidentiality.
Keeping Confidential Maintenance Requests Confidential
Even when making a maintenance request, most information is not privileged. What’s more, if the landlord has the option to release some information, such as the unit number, and release another confidential element of a request, such as a leak or a mold claim, there likely is no legal or statutory obligation to keep both confidential.
Of course, in reality, this is far more complicated than it may seem at first glances. We recommend discussing with an attorney the best approach for a specific situation.
Most Common Confidentiality Violations
A review of the common breaches of landlord-tenant confidentiality sheds some light on the potential for exposure. As a practical matter, a landlord can lose sight of true unit identity before a tenant has actually occupied the unit. Once a tenant occupies a unit, the relative risk diminishes significantly, particularly if a normal commercial "Lease" is a current document.
So the problem for a landlord (or its employees) is when a rental prospect inquires about a unit. The result is that a friendly person has a question about a unit, and strikes up a casual conversation about the unit. Later that person has a habit of lingering around the apartment complex. Next, a tenant notices the person lingering around, inquires about what he or she knows, and comments that he has informed an attorney in the area about the apparent suspicious individual. That tenant describes the individual to be that friendly person talking about a unit.
Before long, there is a letter from the tenant’s attorney demanding information about the person. That person turns out to have a very bad history. There are several reasons why these types of problems occur. One is that there are no standardized forms for inquiries concerning prospective renters. Another is that employees may not have standardized procedures for dealing with telephone inquiries. Another is that employees may not use due care when encountering persons who appear to be prospective renters. The end result is an apparent breach of the financial privacy rights of the individual, who usually gets some publicity when the substance of the problem is published verbatim.
One of the saddest problems occurring was the matter of a landlord attempting to investigate a problem with potential drug use on the property. The landlord arranged for an investigator to visit the property in an unmarked vehicle. The methods of modern clandestine surveillance are very effective, and the investigator obtained much of the information reasonably necessary. Unfortunately, the daily rental obligations were in a loose-leaf binder in the investigators car, along with several other personal items later reported.
Based on the investigation, a search warrant was issued and the apartment occupied by the prospective tenant was raided in an effort to locate some evidence. During the raid, the loose-leaf binder came into possession of the officers. It contained some of the investigative information, and included sensitive personal information.
The rules governing these problems of confidentiality are vague, and since the need for the information was assumed to be valid, the confidential information was used. In all of the investigative matters described above, the probable cost grounds for the invasion of privacy of the prospective tenant could be considerable. Therefore, the sensitive information must be safeguarded.
Tenant Remedies for Conflicts Arising From Confidentiality
Upon request, landlords are bound to provide a signed statement that the tenant complied with all the rules and regulations of the lease and is entitled to the return of the security deposit. In addition, upon request, landlords are also required to give a signed statement of the landlord’s reasons for terminating the tenancy. If the landlord releases confidential information to someone outside of these parameters, they may be in violation of the Illinois Landlord and Tenant Act, 765 ILCS 715/15 . The tenant can ask the landlord in writing to provide the same statement and to state what was released. If the landlord refuses or fails to respond to the request in 30 days, it may constitute a violation. If the information released is sensitive information, including social security numbers or bank account numbers, the tenant may have a strong case against the landlord and may be able to bring an action against them for damages.
Confidentiality Statutes: State-to-State Variations
In addition to the federal provisions, landlord-tenant confidentiality laws are scattered around the country in a number of states. In fact, a different set of landlord-tenant confidentiality rules exists in nearly every state. From what we have seen, all of the laws have been designed to protect landlords and tenants from having to disclose their personally identifiable information in public filings that are available to any member of the general public. For example, the City of Los Angeles has a strong law that protects the confidentiality of landlord-tenant agreements and also includes safeguards for bank account, credit card and social security numbers. The goal of the California legislation is to prevent the trading in of landlord-tenant information by the three major credit bureaus and other parties that gather, assess and sell credit information. A few of the other laws passed in 2014 included restrictions on the posting of such information to websites or the sharing of such information with third parties for commercial purposes, including marketing and advertising. The laws vary from state to state. A complete database of the laws would be almost impossible to maintain, particularly when the Federal law changes have mandated that some of the local laws be updated.
Best Practices for Landlords
It is critical that all landlords are generally aware of their responsibilities under landlord-tenant confidentiality laws. However, it is equally important for landlords to actively implement best practices to make sure that they are in compliance with the law by addressing and correcting potential violations. Landlords are therefore strongly encouraged to: These practices should ensure that landlords are compliant with the applicable landlord-tenant confidentiality laws to avoid common mistakes and protect their interests. Furthermore , keeping good records and having a strong tenant screening and approval process should assist landlords in remaining compliant as the process becomes procedure.