GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999

SESSION LAW 1999-14
SENATE BILL 41

AN ACT TO REQUIRE THAT EVERY DWELLING UNIT LEASED AS RENTAL PROPERTY IN CERTAIN CITIES BE FURNISHED WITH A SOURCE OF HEAT.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  Part 6 of Article 19 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 160A-443A.  Heat source required.
(a)	A city shall, by ordinance, require that by January 1, 2000, every dwelling unit leased as rental property within the city shall have, at a minimum, a central or electric heating system or sufficient chimneys, flues, or gas vents, with heating appliances connected, so as to heat at least one habitable room, excluding the kitchen, to a minimum temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit measured three feet above the floor with an outside temperature of 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
(b)	If a dwelling unit contains a heating system or heating appliances that meet the requirements of subsection (a) of this section, the owner of the dwelling unit shall not be required to install a new heating system or heating appliances, but the owner shall be required to maintain the existing heating system or heating appliances in a good and safe working condition.  Otherwise, the owner of the dwelling unit shall install a heating system or heating appliances that meet the requirements of subsection (a) of this section and shall maintain the heating system or heating appliances in a good and safe working condition.
(c)	Portable kerosene heaters are not acceptable as a permanent source of heat as required by subsection (a) of this section but may be used as a supplementary source in single family dwellings and duplex units.  An owner who has complied with subsection (a) shall not be held in violation of this section where an occupant of a dwelling unit uses a kerosene heater as a primary source of heat.
(d)	This section applies only to cities with a population of 200,000 or over, according to the most recent decennial federal census.
(e)	Nothing in this section shall be construed as:
(1)	Diminishing the rights of or remedies available to any tenant under a lease agreement, statute, or at common law; or
(2)	Prohibiting a city from adopting an ordinance with more stringent heating requirements than provided for by this section."
Section 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 29th day of March, 1999.

s/	Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate

s/	James B. Black
Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor

Approved 1:40 p.m. this 1st day of April, 1999