Montgomery County, Maryland Passes New Law Strengthening Local Habitability Standards

In April, lawmakers in Montgomery County, Maryland passed a new renters’ rights bill that would strengthen the enforcement of habitability standards and allow renters to take legal action against landlords and property owners who fail to uphold a minimum warranty of habitability. Passed through “Council Bill 6-25,” the “Consumer Protection for Renters Act” would provide renter households with recourse to fight back against substandard housing conditions, with the new law outlining civil penalties for housing code violations and violations of the county’s landlord-tenant laws. Sponsored by Councilmember Kristin Mink (District 5), the new law would have a positive impact for renters in the private rental market, as 35% of housing units in Montgomery County are renter-occupied. Moreover, with the passage of “Council Bill 6-25,” Montgomery County joins 10 states and 12 localities that have taken measures to ensure the proactive upkeep of each jurisdiction’s rental housing stock, with the locality even strengthening a 2024 state law passed in Maryland through “House Bill 1117” that addresses dangerous living conditions for renters. 

The passage of Montgomery County’s new habitability law would ameliorate housing conditions for renters experiencing unsafe living conditions. Unsafe housing conditions can result in living conditions that become unfit for habitation, with such conditions typically manifesting as a lack of heating or air conditioning, rodent or pest infestations, the presence of mold, or faulty housing structures that can pose physical safety risks or result in bodily harm. To do this, “Council Bill 6-25” will extend existing consumer protection laws to cover the rental housing market, in turn closing a loophole that has historically excluded rental housing from coverage. The law would allow the county’s Office of Consumer Protection to investigate substandard living conditions – or “defective tenancies” – even allowing tenants to make complaints to the department when such conditions arise. 

By ensuring that rental housing units adhere to and uphold the same protections for consumers as businesses do, landlords and property owners are prohibited from engaging in “deceptive trade practices” – or failing to meet the basic obligations outlined within a tenant’s lease agreement. Such deception could present as a failure to provide or repair essential building services such as working elevators or trash pickup, inoperable appliances or amenities, or even requiring tenants to pay excessive rental fees, commonly known as “junk fees,” despite the presence of chronic housing code violations. 

Embedded in the law are stronger enforcement mechanisms to ensure that substandard habitability conditions do not go unchecked or unfixed. For any landlord or property owner who violates the guidelines established by “Council Bill 6-25,” the resulting violation could be distributed as a civil penalty, with each violation not to exceed more than $1,000. For housing code violations that repeatedly go unfixed, the county will have the ability to bring a legal course of action against a landlord to seek damages and restitution for failing to uphold habitable housing conditions. Under the law specifically, the Office of the County Attorney will be responsible for bringing suit against a landlord or property owner in violation of the law, with the law establishing that the county can even seek the recovery of attorney fees if they prevail in the lawsuit.  

Effective enforcement of the county’s habitability laws have historically been difficult for governing agencies in the county. According to the county’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs, during the 2024 fiscal year the agency attempted to collect more than $1.5 million in unpaid District Court fines stemming from legal action taken against landlords, yet only $100,375 was collected. In Montgomery County, the District Court has historically been overburdened by the number of cases tried, resulting not only in delays upwards of six months to when cases are heard in court, but also in judges reducing the fines levied against landlords and property owners. Under Montgomery County’s new law, however, cases will now be heard by the Office of the County Attorney in circuit court, allowing for habitual code violators to respond to repeated exhibitions of code noncompliance. 

With Montgomery County’s new habitability law in place, tenant households will feel positive reverberations. According to the Department of Housing and Community Affairs which publishes the number of multi-family rental properties with unresolved code violations annually, there were 90 properties in 2024 that had unresolved repairs, more than double the amount from 2023 when 39 instances were reported.  

The county’s new law will also have positive implications for renter households of color who comprise the greatest share of renter-occupied units in the county. According to the 2023 American Community Survey, renter households of color, including Asian, Black, Native American, and Latinx households, comprise more than 60% of renter occupied units in the county, with white renters accounting for 37% of the occupied housing stock. 

When renters have the necessary safeguards to speak out against habitability concerns and assert their rights in a legal setting, it not only ensures that any habitability concerns will be resolved, but it also minimizes the threat of retaliation against tenants who may be wrongfully evicted without cause for bringing awareness to a habitability concern. As evidenced by NLIHC’s “Strengthening Renters’ Rights: A Primer on Renter Protections” toolkit on code enforcement protections, the presence of such laws can remove the burden from tenants to report issues with their units, instead placing the onus on the agency tasked with overseeing law enforcement to ensure the proactive upkeep of a unit. As such, these laws can rectify any health and safety concerns without a tenant fearing displacement from their home, in turn ensuring housing stability over the short- and long-term. 

Montgomery County’s “Council Bill 6-25” was widely supported by tenant advocates. According to the press release issued when the bill passed, the community and nonprofit organizations listed in support of the bill were Action in Montgomery (AIM), Service Workers International Union (SEIU) Local 500, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1994 - MCGEO, the Islamic Society of the Washington Area (ISWA), the Muslim Community Center (MCC) of Silver Spring, CASA, the Enclave (Silver Spring) Tenants Association, Jews United for Justice (JUFJ), and Everyday Canvassing. 

On June 11, NLIHC’s State and Local Innovation campaign will host a webinar to discuss code enforcement protections and the advocacy efforts that led to local wins across the country in upholding tenant rights. The webinar will feature presentations from advocates in both Colorado and New Orleans, Louisiana to talk about efforts to enact Colorado’s “Senate Bill 24-094” and New Orleans’ “Healthy Homes” ordinance. Registration for the webinar can be found here.  

More information on Montgomery County’s habitability law can be found here.