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Clarified rules for North Carolina hotel guests OK'd by House

RALEIGH, N.C. — Legislation that passed in North Carolina's House on Wednesday would make clear that longer-term hotel guests cannot receive the stronger legal protections usually reserved for home and apartment renters until they've stayed for three months.

The measure, approved 84-31, seeks to respond to concerns from hotel and motel operators about guests who have been difficult to remove despite breaking hotel rules or the law, said the bill sponsor, Republican Rep. John Bradford of Mecklenburg County. The bill states “transient occupancies” that aren't subject to landlord-tenant rules apply when a person has stayed at a locale for fewer than 90 days.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a similar bill in 2021, saying it wasn’t the right way to provide safety in hotels. An identical bill passed the Senate earlier this month. One of the versions would have to be approved by both chambers for the legislation to head to Cooper’s desk.

Opponents of the measure contend that people often living for weeks in hotels have nowhere else to go due to economic circumstances or the dearth of affordable housing and need more protections. Bradford said he was listening to concerns from advocates for the poor and that adjustments were possible.

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