Bill: Draft Property Standards Consolidation Act

[xXTheoryXx]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
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A BILL TO

AMEND AND CONSOLIDATE THE PROPERTY STANDARDS ACT TO INCORPORATE TENANT RIGHTS, PLOT REGULATIONS, AND RELATED PROPERTY LEGISLATION

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The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:
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PART I - PRELIMINARIES

1. Short Title and Enactment

(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Property Standards Consolidation Act.'

(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.

(3) This Act has been authored by Speaker of the House xXTheoryXx.

(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Senator TrueDarkLander.

(5) This Act amends the following acts:

(a) Property Standards Act - Act of Congress - Property Standards Act

(6) This Act rescinds the following acts:

(a) Tenant Rights Act - Act of Congress - Tenant Rights Act

(b) Tenant Vibes Act - Act of Congress - Tenant Vibes Act

(c) Plot Regulations Act - Act of Congress - Plot Regulations Act

2. Reasons and Intent

(1) Tenant rights legislation is currently spread across two separate Acts - the Tenant Rights Act and the Tenant Vibes Act - which creates confusion and inconsistency in enforcement.

(2) The Plot Regulations Act amends the Property Standards Act directly; consolidating it avoids having related property law split across multiple documents.

(3) A single, unified Property Standards Act is easier for citizens, landlords, and the courts to reference.

(4) This Act carries forward all substantive provisions of the rescinded acts without alteration, resolving overlaps and removing redundancy.

3. Definitions

(1) For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) Landlord. Any player or government body that owns a plot or region and rents it to another player.

(b) Tenant. Any player renting a region from a landlord.

(c) Rented Region. Any plot, apartment, store, chestshop space, or other designated region made available for rent.

(d) Inactive Tenant. A tenant who has not logged onto the server for 5 or more consecutive days.

(e) Written Notice. A message delivered via in-game /mail, /msg, or forum private message that is timestamped and retainable as evidence.

(f) Government. The DCGovernment and any department acting on its behalf.

(g) Building Inspector. A staff member or authorised DCT officer conducting an official property compliance inspection.

PART II - TENANT RIGHTS

4. Private Tenant Rights

(1) The following section shall be inserted as Section 20 of the Property Standards Act.

(2) Eviction Notice. A landlord must provide a tenant with at least 24 hours written notice before evicting them from a rented region.

(a) This notice requirement does not apply where:

(i) a building inspector has filed a compliance report against the region; or

(ii) the tenant has been permanently banned or deported.

(3) Rent Refund on Eviction. If a tenant is evicted, they must receive a full refund of any prepaid rent.

(a) This does not apply where the tenant has been permanently banned or deported.

(4) Landlord Entry Notice. A landlord must provide the tenant with at least 12 hours written notice before entering a tenant's rented region.

(a) This requirement does not apply where:

(i) the region contains chestshops;

(ii) the tenant is inactive;

(iii) the tenant has been permanently banned or deported; or

(iv) the tenant has provided the landlord with written permission to enter.

(5) Tenant Exclusivity. Once a region is rented, the landlord may not enter, modify, or interfere with that region except as permitted under subsection (4).

(6) Security Cameras. A landlord may not place security cameras anywhere inside a tenant's rented region without the tenant's written consent.

(7) Business Eviction Compensation. Where a rented region was the primary place of operations of a registered business, group, party, or organisation, the landlord may be required by a court to compensate the tenant for reasonable costs associated with relocating those operations.

5. Government Tenant Rights

(1) The following section shall be inserted as Section 21 of the Property Standards Act.

(2) Eviction Notice. The Government must provide a tenant with at least 48 hours written notice before evicting them from a rented region.

(a) This notice requirement does not apply where a building inspector has filed a compliance report against the region.

(3) Rent Refund on Eviction. If a tenant is evicted by the Government, they must receive a full refund of any prepaid rent.

PART III - PLOT REGULATIONS

6. Plot Limitations Amendment

(1) Section 16 of the Property Standards Act shall be amended as follows:

(a) C Plots. A citizen may not own more than 18 commercial properties.
(a) C Plots. A citizen may not own more than 20 commercial properties.

(b) R Plots. A citizen may not own more than 2 residential properties.

(c) I Plots. A citizen may not own more than 2 industrial properties.

(d) S Plots. A citizen may not own more than 6 skyscraper properties.

(e) BM Plots. A citizen may not own nor rent more than 1 black market property.

(f) Ranch Plots. A citizen may not own more than 1 ranch property.

(g) Farmland Plots. A citizen may not own nor rent more than 1 farmland property.

(h) Government Subsidized Commercial Spaces. A citizen may not own more than 2 of each type of Government Subsidized Commercial Space.

(i) Realtors. Any citizen with a Realtor job may exceed these limitations by 5 plots each:
(i) excluding BM, FR, and Government Commercial Spaces; and
(ii) provided the plots exceeding these limitations are for the purpose of reselling the plot within 30 days of purchasing the plot.
(i) Realtors. Any citizen with a Realtor job may exceed these limitations by 5 plots each:
(i) excluding BM and Government Subsidized Commercial Spaces; and
(ii) provided the plots exceeding these limitations are for the purpose of reselling the plot within 30 days of purchasing the plot.

(j) Plots located within towns are not subject to the above plot limits. Each town shall retain jurisdiction to create their own plot limits for plots located within their town.

7. Auction Levy

(1) The following section shall be inserted as Section 22 of the Property Standards Act.

(2) A levy shall apply to all eviction auctions held by the Department of Construction and Transportation, calculated based on the number of plots the winning bidder holds at the time of bid submission.

(a) Town plots, wild plots, and residential plots are exempt from both the levy itself and the plot count used to calculate it.

(3) The following levy schedule applies:

(a) 0-9 plots owned: 0% levy.

(b) 10-14 plots owned: 25% levy.

(c) 15-19 plots owned: 50% levy.

(d) 20+ plots owned: 75% levy.

(4) A bidder subject to the levy must calculate and include the levy amount separately in their bid message. Bids missing or miscalculating the required levy are invalid.

(5) If such a bidder wins the auction, the Department of Construction and Transportation will charge the levy in addition to the bid amount. The property will only be transferred once the levy is paid.

(a) If the bidder cannot pay, the auction is void, a new auction will be held, and the bidder will be charged with Auction Levy Neglect.

8. New Player CBD Plots

(1) The following section shall be inserted as Section 23 of the Property Standards Act.

(2) Review. The Department of Construction and Transportation shall periodically review non-new-player CBD plots for suitability for conversion to New Player CBD plots.

(a) A plot is viable for conversion if it meets all of the following criteria:

(i) the plot is 100 or more blocks in area;

(ii) the current tenant has less than 6 hours of playtime in the last 30 days; and

(iii) the rental period is within 1 month of the review date.

(b) The DCT shall evaluate and rank viable plots by location and size, and report findings to the sitting Congress and President within 7 calendar days.

(3) Acquisition. Following the DCT's report:

(a) Congress must approve or reject pursuit of identified plots by resolution.

(b) Where approved, the DCT shall pursue acquisition under the Reveille Eminent Domain Act, citing Urban Renewal.

(c) Fair offers shall be based on recent comparable auction listings and the plot's base rental cost.

(d) The DCT shall pursue acquisition of up to 3 viable plots per review cycle.

(e) Acquisition costs shall be drawn from the DCGovernment balance.

(4) Conversion. After acquisition:

(a) Plots of 150 blocks or under shall be directly converted to a New Player CBD plot.

(b) Plots over 150 blocks shall be split into 2 equal New Player CBD plots, with a dividing wall and pavement access for each.

(5) Release. After conversion:

(a) The DCT shall announce availability and locations in the DemocracyCraft Discord #government-announcements channel.

(b) The DCT shall conduct a plot lottery via #realestate.

(i) Winners are assigned a New Player CBD plot on a first-come-first-served basis.

(ii) Unclaimed plots shall be released for standard public rental.

PART IV - TAXATION AND CRIMINAL AMENDMENTS

9. Property Tax Amendment

(1) Section 13(1) of the Taxation Act shall be amended as follows:

(a) Where x is the amount of plots a player owns and y is the amount taxed per day, property taxes shall be calculated as: y= 2.5(x²) - 6x. Taxes will be rounded down to the nearest cent.
(a) Where x is the number of plots a player owns and y is the amount taxed per day, property taxes shall be calculated as: y = 2.7(x - 2) + 2.87(x - 2)^2 + 0.0462(x - 2)^3. Taxes will be rounded down to the nearest cent.

(b) The Property Tax chart in §13(1) shall be updated accordingly.

10. Commercial Standards Act Amendments

(1) Section 5 of the Commercial Standards Act shall be amended as follows:

(a) All offences within this law are Indictable Criminal Offences unless otherwise specified.
(a) All offences within this law are Indictable Criminal Offences unless otherwise specified.
(b) Civil damages may be sought against these offences by way of the Legal Damages Act or a succeeding Act of the same nature.

(2) Section 9 of the Commercial Standards Act shall be amended to add the following offences:

(a) Auction Levy Evasion.

(i) Classification: Indictable Criminal Offence.

(ii) Taking actions with the sole intent to avoid paying the auction levy while still receiving the plot or benefit from it.

(iii) First offence: Plot eviction + fine of up to $5,000 or 30% of the winning bid, whichever is higher.

(iv) Subsequent offences: Plot eviction + fine of up to $5,000 or 30% of the winning bid, whichever is higher, + auction ban of up to 2 weeks.

(b) Auction Levy Neglect.

(i) Classification: Summary Criminal Offence.

(ii) Failure to pay the required auction levy after winning an auction.

(iii) First offence: Fine of $2,000 or 10% of the winning bid, whichever is higher.

(iv) Subsequent offences: Fine of $5,000 or 30% of the winning bid, whichever is higher.

PART V - TRANSITION AND MISCELLANEOUS

11. Transition - Plot Limit Grandfather Clause

(1) Citizens who own more than 30 commercial plots at the time of this Act's signage shall be granted an exception to the reduced limit.

(2) Such citizens may not acquire any new commercial plots until their holdings fall below 30, at which point the standard limit applies.

12. Rescission

(1) The following Acts are hereby rescinded in their entirety upon the signage of this Act:

(a) Tenant Rights Act

(b) Tenant Vibes Act

(c) Plot Regulations Act

13. Severability

(1) If any provision of this Act is found to be unenforceable or unconstitutional, only the offending provision shall be struck. All remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.