SECOND REGULAR SESSION
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES GOODMAN (Sponsor), GUEST, PEARCE, STEVENSON,
RUESTMAN, MORRIS, MYERS, VIEBROCK, SELBY AND DAUS (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time January 13, 2004, and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 250.140, 535.020, and 535.040, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to remedies for tenant default on utility and rent payments.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 250.140, 535.020, and 535.040, RSMo, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 250.140, 535.020, and 535.040, to read as follows:
250.140. 1. Sewerage services or water and sewerage services combined shall be deemed to be furnished to [both] the occupant [and owner] of the premises receiving such service and the city, town [or], village, or sewer district rendering such services shall have power to sue the occupant [or owner, or both,] of such real estate in a civil action to recover any sums due for such services, plus a reasonable attorney's fee to be fixed by the court.
2. [If the occupant of the premises receives the billing,] Any notice of termination of service shall be sent to both the occupant and owner of the premises receiving such service[, if such owner has requested in writing to receive any notice of termination and has provided the entity rendering such service with the owner's business addresses].
535.020. Whenever any rent has become due and payable, and payment has been demanded by the landlord or the landlord's agent from the lessee or person occupying the premises, and payment thereof has not been made, the landlord or agent may file a statement, verified by affidavit, with any associate circuit judge in the county in which the property is situated, setting forth the terms on which such property was rented, and the amount of rent actually due to such landlord; that the rent has been demanded from the tenant, lessee or person occupying the premises, and that payment has not been made, and substantially describing the property rented or leased. Giving the notice provided in section 441.060, RSMo, is not required prior to filing a statement or obtaining the relief provided in this chapter. In such case, the clerk of the court shall immediately issue a summons directed to such tenant or lessee and to all persons occupying the premises, by name, requiring them to appear before the judge upon a day to be therein named, and show cause why possession of the property should not be restored to the plaintiff. The landlord or agent may, in such an action for unpaid rent, join a claim for any other unpaid sums, other than property damages, regardless of how denominated or defined in the lease, to be paid by or on behalf of a tenant to a landlord for any purpose set forth in the lease; provided that such other sums shall not be considered rent for purposes of this chapter, and judgment for the landlord for recovery of such other sums shall not by itself entitle the landlord to an order for recovery of possession of the premises. The provisions of this section providing for the filing of a statement before an associate circuit judge shall not preclude adoption of a local circuit court rule providing for the centralized filing of such cases, nor the assignment of such cases to particular circuit or associate circuit judges pursuant to local circuit court rule or action by the presiding judge of the circuit. The case shall be heard and determined under the practice and procedure provided in the Missouri rules of civil procedure, except where otherwise provided by this chapter.
535.040. Upon the return of the summons executed, the judge shall set the case on the first available court date to be heard by the court without a jury and shall proceed to hear the cause, and if it shall appear that the rent which is due has been demanded of the tenant, lessee or persons occupying the property, and that payment has not been made, and if the payment of such rent, with all costs, shall not be tendered before the judge, on the hearing of the cause, the judge shall render judgment that the landlord recover the possession of the premises so rented or leased, and also the debt for the amount of the rent then due, with all court costs and shall issue an execution upon such judgment, commanding the officer to put the landlord into immediate possession of the property leased or rented, and to make the debt and costs of the goods and chattels of the defendant. No money judgment shall be granted to the plaintiff if the defendant is in default and service was by the posting procedure provided in section 535.030 unless the defendant otherwise enters an appearance. The officer shall deliver possession of the property to the landlord within five days from the time of receiving the execution, and the officer shall proceed upon the execution to collect the debt and costs, and return the writ, as in the case of other executions. If the plaintiff so elects, the plaintiff may sue for possession alone, without asking for recovery of the rent due.