Maryland housing office will plan responses to hazards in large rentals

The Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs, working with the Attorney General, must develop a plan to identify severe health and safety risk properties and decide how to address them. This applies only to rental properties with 50 or more units that routinely fail basic health and safety standards, including properties with ongoing code violations or repeated unresolved violations. The Office must coordinate with counties and cities, seek input from renters, landlords, and other stakeholders, and identify ways to use local resources. The possible interventions are options for the plan; this section does not itself order landlords to carry them out. The Act takes effect July 1, 2026. The Department must submit the plan and recommendations by August 31, 2027.

The Department of Housing and Community Development must report on identified properties and publish their names on its website. The report and public list concern severe health and safety risk properties identified under the plan. The report must include identified violations, reasons for including properties, and any interventions undertaken and their status. The report is due by December 31, 2027. The Act ends on that date.