GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2011

SESSION LAW 2011-127

SENATE BILL 177

AN ACT amending the charter of the city of greensboro to provide that the city shall collect past-due charges for utility services owed by a tenant who is liable for the charges in the manner provided by general law instead of placing a lien upon the rental property.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Section 6.83 of the Charter of the City of Greensboro, being Chapter 1137 of the 1959 Session Laws, as amended, reads as rewritten:

"Sec. 6.83. Liens for Utility Charges.

(a) In caseExcept as provided in subsection (b) of this section, when any charge for utility service or for the use of utility facilities is not paid within ten days after it becomes due, the same shall become a lien upon the property served or in connection with which the service or facility is used. The charge may at any time thereafter be collected, either by suit in the name of the city or by the city tax collector for the city, by the sale of the property upon which the lien attaches at the Guilford County courthouse door, after advertising the sale once a week for four successive weeks in some newspaper published in the city which is qualified to carry legal notices. The sale shall be made under the same rules and regulations, and subject to the same costs and penalties and to the same rights of redemption as are provided by law for the foreclosure of the lien on real estate for taxes.

(b) When any charge for utility service or for the use of utility facilities is for a rental property and the tenants of the rental property are individually liable for the charge, the city shall collect any charge that is incurred and becomes past-due after July 1, 2010, pursuant to the provisions of G.S. 160A-314 and any other applicable general or local law. The city shall not collect any charge from a tenant that is incurred and becomes past-due after July 1, 2010, under the provisions of subsection (a) of this section."

SECTION 2.  This act is effective from and after July 1, 2010.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 15^th day of June, 2011.

                                                                    s/  Walter H. Dalton

                                                                         President of the Senate

                                                                    s/  Thom Tillis

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives