U.S. FEBRUARY 21, 2019 / 3:06 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Army landlords agree to expand tenant rights, curb fees in latest reform after Reuters reports

M.B. Pell, Deborah Nelson
4 MIN READ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Army’s private landlords committed this week to providing military families greater say and safer homes, endorsing a military blueprint that aims to reduce hazards in base housing and give tenants a stronger voice when problems arise.

Executives from seven real estate companies, which manage some 87,000 Army housing units at more than 40 bases, pledged a series of reforms following a Pentagon meeting earlier this week with the Army’s three senior leaders – Secretary Mark Esper, Chief of Staff Mark Milley and Sergeant Major Daniel Dailey.

The landlords agreed to add staffing and become more responsive to housing concerns by setting up online tracking systems for service requests. They also endorsed a military-proposed “tenant bill of rights” that will allow families to withhold rent while preventing the private housing companies from charging fees when families receive poor service.

Those steps, announced Thursday by the Army, signal the latest action to follow a Reuters series, Ambushed at Home, that exposed serious housing hazards at bases nationwide.

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