Maryland General Assembly in Final Stretch

The Maryland General Assembly has limited time remaining in its 2018 session, and AOBA has been successful in defeating several pieces of legislation:
 

• Montgomery County – Just Cause Eviction - HB 995 would have required a landlord in Montgomery County to renew a tenant’s lease forever, unless one of eleven “just cause” reasons existed as stated in the bill.  AOBA strongly opposed the bill, and the Delegation chose to send it to summer study, effectively ending consideration of the bill for this session.
   

• Late Fees for Tenants Receiving Government Benefits - SB 250 / HB 580 would have provided that for tenants receiving a government benefit of monetary assistance, a landlord would be prohibited from imposing a late fee for failure to pay rent when due until 5 business days after a government benefit is issued to a tenant. AOBA successfully opposed this legislation as an unnecessary complication for late fees and impossible for landlords to administer.
• WSSC Service Rate Classes - HB 409 would have authorized the WSSC to adopt water and sewer rates that vary by customer class or meter size. Current law requires that service rates be uniform for all types of customers.  AOBA opposed the bill because it would be used to impose discriminatory service rates based on customer type.  At this point the bill appears bottled up in committee.

There are several other key bills hanging in the balance that still have a chance of passage, including: Administrative Fees – Sub-metering and RUBS - SB 397 and Action for Repossession of Nonresidential Property - Service of Process - SB 1102 / HB 1329  (both of which AOBA supports) and Elevator Inspections – Testing - SB 831 / HB 1107  (which we oppose).  The session will conclude on Monday, April 9.