Two payments designed to make clear what rights tenants have are being thought-about by the Montgomery County Council.
Two payments designed to make clear what rights tenants have are being thought-about by the Montgomery County Council.
One invoice, 8-24, requires landlords to show information in regards to the county’s legislation concerning when and the way landlords can conduct prison background checks and pull credit score stories on potential renters.
Council member Laurie-Anne Sayles stated the proposed invoice was the results of a dialog with a constituent.
In the council’s March 5 assembly, Sayles instructed her council colleagues {that a} resident contacted her workplace after being denied for a rental software.
That led her workplace to look into the place these complaints are filed and what sort of points potential renters could also be experiencing.
“The drawback we’re making an attempt to remedy is ensuring that renters can keep housed,” Sayles instructed WTOP in an interview. “And [so] renters don’t encounter any boundaries when they’re making an attempt to entry housing.
Under the county’s “ban the field” legislation, prison background checks and credit score stories checks can’t be carried out earlier than a landlord makes a proposal to hire to a potential tenant. Bill 8-24 would require landlords to publish discover “the place candidates are solicited for rental housing,” in accordance to the legislative packet on the invoice.
The invoice would additionally require that landlords provide a press release or addendum with every rental software that outlines the method and use of information associated to prison arrest, convictions and credit score screenings.
Emergency information
Another invoice launched to the county council would require that landlords provide information to renters on the constructing’s sprinkler system operations, the emergency security plan for the property and explanations on renter’s insurance coverage.
Montgomery County Council Vice President Kate Stewart instructed WTOP in an interview, “We’re actually defending individuals” with Bill 7-24. She stated that almost all of the landlords and administration firms working in Montgomery County “share that aim.”
Stewart stated two incidents spurred her to introduce the laws. The first, a lethal hearth in Silver Spring on the Arrive flats in February 2023, left one lady useless and 15 others injured. Damages have been initially estimated at $2 million in that three-alarm hearth.
Hundreds have been evacuated in that fireside and Stewart stated those that skilled water and smoke harm “really misplaced every thing.”
In that fireside, Stewart stated many renters believed they’d renter’s insurance coverage — however didn’t. Stewart stated their perception that they have been coated stemmed from a misunderstanding about insurance policies that utilized to the owner’s insurance coverage.
Her invoice would require residential leases to embody information about renter’s insurance coverage. It would additionally require the provision of a constructing consultant in emergencies on a 24-hour foundation.
Stewart stated one other incident that prompted her invoice was the storm-related energy outage that affected the Grand house advanced in North Bethesda in the summertime. In that incident, residents couldn’t use elevators for days.
“There are individuals who reside there who’re on oxygen and different medical gadgets,” stated Stewart. The lack of energy, stated Stewart, brought about temperatures inside some flats to soar to almost 90 levels.
Stewart stated her invoice would require notification by landlords of important service disruptions and would require an emergency security plan — and approval of that plan — by the county’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
Both payments have been launched throughout a council session on March 5. Dates for public hearings for the payments have not been scheduled as of Tuesday, March 12.
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