Landlords Must Pay Moving Fees For Displaced Tenants Under Bill

ROCKVILLE, MD — Landlords now must cover relocation costs for displaced tenants in homes condemned by Montgomery County's Department of Housing and Community Affairs. And once the necessary fixes are made, tenants are entitled to a right-of-first refusal to reoccupy their units.

The provisions improving the health and safety of local renters are part of a bill that was unanimously passed last week by the Montgomery County Council. Sponsored by council member Will Jawando, Bill 18-19 seeks to strengthen tenants' rights and hold landlords more accountable for unsafe living conditions.

"When I originally introduced the bill, I really was thinking a lot about the trauma Montgomery County residents face when they live in a rental home or an apartment and it's condemned as unfit for human habitation...through no fault of their own," Jawando said at a Jan. 14 council meeting in Rockville. "Imagine if you woke up this morning and you got a knock on the door from DHCA and they said, 'You're not allowed to live here anymore.'"

Though these cases are more extreme, Jawando said they do happen.

In fiscal 2018, DHCA recorded 155 cases of housing condemnation, county documents show.

According to DHCA's Housing Code Enforcement Handbook, any dwelling unit or non-residential building may be condemned as unfit for human inhabitation if the structure "presents a hazard to the life, health, property or safety of the occupants or the public." That includes: unsafe equipment; lack of sanitation facilities, ventilation, and exits; mold; and rodents and insects infestation.

That's why this bill was first introduced, Jawando explained. It is to help remedy such cases involving vulnerable tenants.

Patch has reached out to a spokeswoman for the county's housing department and will update this article if a comment about the legislation is made.

According to the legislation, tenants are either temporarily displaced or permanently displaced.

Temporarily displaced tenants — or those forced to move out for 30 days or less — are entitled to a lease that is "substantially similar to the lease in effect" when they return to their original units. As for permanently displaced tenants — or those forced to move out for more than 30 days — the relocation expense that a landlord covers must be "the greater of (three) months' fair market value rent" ... "or (three) months of the tenant's actual rent."

The Montgomery County Council emphasized that this bill was not created to punish landlords, but to keep tenants safe.

"This bill is not designed to create a financial burden or be punitive to landlords in any way. It is rather about recognizing the moral imperative to ensure our residents' and their families' health and wellbeing is not adversely affected by their housing," the council wrote in a statement.

There are circumstances when a landlord does not need to cover moving costs for a tenant.

According to the bill, a landlord does not need to pay relocation fees to a tenant if the housing director determines that the unsafe living conditions that lead to condemnation are not in the landlord's control.

SEE ALSO:

• Crackdown On Housing Code Violations Targeted By Montgomery Co.
• Mold, Roaches, Rodents Prompt Massive Apartment Inspections
• 31K Housing Violations Found During Montgomery's Inspection Surge