MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Montgomery County Council Member At-Large Will Jawando is proposing a rent freeze while the county deals with the coronavirus pandemic.
If passed, Jawando's bill would ban any rent increases until 30 days after the state of emergency expires.
We wanted to know: What else is in the bill, and who could it impact?
WUSA9 spoke to the councilman to get the answer.
Question 1: What would the rent relief bill change about the way rent is handled right now in Montgomery County?
Answer from Jawando: "Right now under the current law, landlords can increase rents – they just have to give 90 days notice.
This bill would not allow any increase of rent during the COVID state of emergency declared by Governor [Hogan] on March 5 until 30 days after that emergency ends."
Question 2: What if renters have already received notice during the state of emergency that their rent is going up? How would this bill help?
Answer from Jawando: "If any notice has been sent and it falls within that window, it needs to be rescinded.
[Landlords] cannot send notice that [they] want to increase [rent] until 30 days after the state of emergency is over.
The 90 day clock would start 30 days after the state of emergency."
The second thing that Jawando says the bill will do is prohibit the imposition of any late-fees or fines or penalties.
This is important, because according to the Department of Housing in Montgomery County, a quarter of renters weren’t able to pay their rent last month.
WUSA9 also spoke to Nicola Whiteman – the senior vice president of government affairs for the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington – which represents about 70% of the rental units in the county. She says many of her members have already started initiating these policies voluntarily.
"We’re suspending rent increases, creating payment plans for residents unable to pay their rent because of the crisis [and] waiving late fees for residents," Whitemann said.
But Jawando says it’s not happening across the board.
Question 3: Is there a policy in Maryland that says you don’t have to pay your rent during the pandemic?
Answer from Jawando: "Right now, no. That would be difficult to do because landlords have bills to pay. They have the staff to pay. And so we really need federal help there. The only things that have been done – and we were actually the first do it in Montgomery County – [is that] you cannot be evicted during the crisis."
To summarize: If you live in Maryland you can’t get evicted during the state of emergency if you don’t pay your rent. Right now, the rent freeze in Montgomery County is just a proposal. It will be voted on by the Montgomery County Council Thursday morning.
If you want to know if your county is proposing or has similar legislation, let us know. Text the Q&A at 202-805-1712.