NC legislation to help hotels remove long-term guests violating rules approved, heads to Gov. Cooper
With some bipartisan support, the House voted 83-29 for the legislation that had already passed the Senate last month by a 28-16 vote.
VIRAL TRAVEL TIP INVOLVES LOCKING A SHOE AWAY IN A HOTEL SAFE
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks on Oct. 14, 2022. The North Carolina General Assembly gave final approval Tuesday to pass a legislation designed to help hotels remove longer-term guests. The measure will now head to Gov. Roy Cooper. (Travis Long/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The measure says that landlord-tenant rules, which make it more difficult to remove an occupant, don't apply when a person is staying at a hotel, motel or RV park for fewer than 90 consecutive days.
Such rules are usually reserved for home and apartment renters, which can require legal action to complete evictions. The measure has the support of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association.
Opponents of the measure contend that people often living for weeks in hotels have nowhere else to go because of economic circumstances or the lack of affordable housing and need more protections.
When vetoing the 2021 measure, Cooper wrote that the "legislation is not the right way to ensure safety in hotels" and instead "allows unnecessary harm to vulnerable people."
The House on Tuesday rejected a Democrat's amendment that would have reduced "transient occupancies," in which the tougher removal regulations wouldn't apply, to stays of fewer than 45 straight days. And an innkeeper would have been required to give a guest at least 24 hours' notice before removal and to release the guest's personal property afterward.