What is the Tenant Safety Act of 2024?
Pursuant to House Bill 1117, effective October 1, 2024, the statute commonly known as the “rent escrow statute” will be amended to:
- Allow multiple tenants to join as plaintiffs in a Petition in Action of Rent Escrow (commonly known as a rent escrow action);
- Include a rebuttable presumption that a tenant is entitled to the adjudication of a request for rent abatement;
- Include a rebuttable presumption that a tenant is entitled to an abatement of prospective rent; and
- Allow a court who orders any relief to a tenant in a rent escrow matter to make a claim for recovery of attorney’s fees, costs and expenses related to litigation.
Permitting multiple tenants to join as plaintiffs in the same Petition in Action of Rent Escrow against a landlord will primarily affect multi-family properties with several units, where a group of tenants may make the same allegations in a rent escrow actions such as mold, flooding, rodents, or other similar issues that affect several units.
Significantly, the changes in the law also place the burden on the landlord to prove that it has not breached the warranty of habitability, as the court will presume that a tenant is entitled to abatement of both past due and prospective rent unless and/or until the landlord convinces the court otherwise.
These changes will impact all Maryland landlords.
If you need assistance with understanding recent changes in Maryland landlord-tenant law or issues involving rent escrow cases filed against landlords in Baltimore City, Baltimore County or the surrounding counties, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or e-mail:
astrachan@silvermanthompson.com
(410) 385-9113
(410) 385-9106
Disclaimer: Local, State and Federal laws, orders, rules and regulations may be modified and updated at any time and without notice. Likewise, orders of the Court and communications regarding Landlord-Tenant actions are also being continuously added, amended and updated. That said, the information provided is based on our current understanding of the laws, orders, rules and regulations that are currently in effect. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you seek legal counsel before initiating any sort of Landlord-Tenant action to ensure that you are acting in compliance with all aspects of any local, Maryland and Federal laws, orders, rules and regulations in effect at that time, as well as all orders of the Court.