Bill
S 279
Keeps landlord‑tenant court records confidential (60 days; expunged after judgment) to stop tenant blacklisting and curb screening based on filings.
Status & Next Steps
- Introduced: January 28, 2025.
- Most recent actions: Reported favorably with committee amendments by the Senate Community & Urban Affairs Committee (11/10/2025); referred to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. Effective date: 180th day after enactment.
- Sponsor listed: Michael Bennet (primary). Related measures: HR 743, A.1703, SD 1849.
Purpose / Intent
- Limit public access to court filing and case-record data from landlord‑tenant proceedings to prevent tenant “blacklisting” by screening companies and landlords, and to reduce chilling effects on tenants’ exercise of legal rights. Strengthen procedural transparency when landlords take adverse actions on rental applications.
Key provisions
- Broad definitions: “Court record” is defined expansively to include pleadings, dockets, judgments, transcripts, case‑management data, and other records of a landlord‑tenant action (including actions in the Special Civil Part and ejectments where tenancy is established).
- Confidentiality of filings:
- All landlord‑tenant court records (including notice of filing) are confidential and not publicly available for the first 60 days after filing.
- Records remain confidential indefinitely unless the action results in a judgment for possession.
- If an action results in an unconditional judgment for possession, the record becomes public on the later of (a) day 61 after filing or (b) within 75 days after the matter is completely resolved (committee amendment increased this post‑resolution period from 45 to 75 days).
- Records remain confidential during appeals, where vacatur/conditional judgments may lead to continued confidentiality, or if a tenant timely seeks to vacate before lockout and prevails.
- Any tenant‑initiated civil claim against a landlord stays confidential indefinitely unless the tenant consents to public disclosure.
- Courts publishing opinions in these matters must refer to parties by initials and avoid disclosing identifying information.
- Record maintenance / expungement:
- Public entities that maintain court records must take steps to ensure confidentiality per the bill.
- The Administrative Office of the Courts is directed to expunge eviction/ejectment court records (including those resulting in judgments of possession) three years after the date of judgment.
- Tenant screening and landlord obligations:
- Landlords may NOT consider in rental evaluations: filings that did not result in a judgment for possession and actual displacement; judgments for possession that were later withdrawn, dismissed, or reversed; or judgments executed three or more years before an application.
- At application submission, landlords must provide a written “screening criteria document” describing the criteria they will use.
- If an adverse action is taken (denial, conditional offer, higher deposit, etc.), landlords must provide written notice stating reasons, disclose screening sources accessed, and append any screening report used.
- Enforcement, remedies & penalties:
- Civil penalties: minimum $1,000 for a first offense and $5,000 for second and subsequent offenses (plus reasonable attorney’s fees). These penalties are payable to the aggrieved applicant/tenant and are in addition to any other relief.
- Criminalizes improper provision of court filing information to landlords or rental‑related entities as a fourth‑degree offense (each discrete disclosure is a separate offense).
- Private cause of action: treble actual damages or $5,000 (whichever is greater), attorney’s fees, costs, and equitable relief for violations.
- Anti‑discrimination: Amends the Law Against Discrimination to make it unlawful to refuse to rent because a person was a party to a summary dispossess (eviction) or otherwise sought to assert legal rights as a tenant.
Who is affected
- Tenants and rental applicants (increased privacy protections; easier to contest adverse impacts from filings).
- Landlords and property managers (new notification, disclosure, and screening limitations; civil and criminal liabilities).
- Tenant‑screening companies and data brokers (restrictions on access/use of court filing data).
- Courts and public record custodians (new confidentiality and expungement duties; redaction requirements).
Potential impacts
- Limits ability of landlords and third‑party screening services to rely on raw filing data when denying housing, potentially reducing denials based solely on filings.
- Increases administrative duties for landlords and courts and creates new compliance risks (penalties, litigation, criminal exposure).
- Aims to protect tenant access to housing and encourage use of legal defenses without fear of long‑term public record consequences.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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