Update on Landlord-Tenant legislation

I posted here about a newspaper report of the new landlord-tenant legislation here. From the Indiana Judicial Center comes this update:

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard HB 1214 concerning landlord tenant law, which permits landlords to enter their property without notice in case of emergency, or without consent if the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the property. In other circumstances reasonable written or oral notice must be given to enter the rental unit. The legislation also provides a landlord may remove abandoned property if a reasonable person would believe it was abandoned without first placing it in a court approved storage facility for later reclamation. Rep. Pierce, author, gave the example of the “beer couch” that is left outside the property that is clearly abandoned. A member of the public testified placement of this kind of furniture into “court approved” facilities under present law, which are bonded, limits choices in many counties. The Indiana Apartment Association testified in favor of the bill. The Committee amended the definition of storage facility to permit the court to approve storage at “any location” increasing a court’s discretion. With this amendment, the bill passed 5-1.