MD HB1218

The Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs must collaborate with the Attorney General to develop a plan for identifying "severe health and safety risk properties"—rental properties with chronic housing code violations, repeated cycles of citations, or persistently hazardous conditions.

The plan must establish referral methods allowing residents, tenant associations, municipal/county agencies, and community organizations to report problem properties to the Office.

Intervention measures under consideration include financial fines, legal injunctions, required tenant escrow, corrective action plans with deadlines, mandatory inspections, pest eradication plans, structural repairs, and temporary tenant relocation for unsafe units.

The Department of Housing and Community Development must submit the plan and recommendations for statutory changes to the Governor and General Assembly by August 31, 2027.

The Act takes effect July 1, 2026 and automatically sunsets on December 31, 2027 without further legislative action.