PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — One Prince George’s County city just voted to provide new protections for its renters as county leaders consider similar proposals.
The Mt. Rainier City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to create a rent stabilization board, which would penalize landlords and property managers whenever they increase rent more than 60% of the consumer price index.
The legislation would fine first offenders $500 and then an additional $1,000 for every violation committed after that.
Mt. Rainier Mayor Celina Benitiez said the legislation was needed in her city of 8,000 people where renters make up more than 75% of the population.
“It will be able to allow them stability in what decisions they make whether it’s saving money to buy a house in the City of Mt. Rainier or move from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom apartment,” she said.
Multiple residents testified that rent increases in Mt. Rainier have become burdensome to their families, including Teresa Romero, a single mother of four children.
“My rent currently is over a thousand 1,500 dollars and my last increase was over 100 dollars. I don’t think that is fair,” she said.
Mt. Rainier’s decision to pass a new rent stabilization law comes at a time when communities across the D.C. region are also looking at ways to tackle the topic of rising rents.
Some Prince George’s County Councilmembers recently proposed legislation that would stop landlords from increasing rent more than 3% per year.
But a few other councilmembers, on the same board, have concerns about that idea.
“It drives away people, who rent properties, out to other jurisdictions,” said Prince George’s County At-Large Councilmember Mel Franklin. “Because they can no longer make a profit on their rental properties in Prince George’s. It sends them to other jurisdictions like Charles County [and] Anne Arundel County, other jurisdictions that don’t have rent control.”
Instead, Franklin proposed a bill that would cap rent increases at 20% for most renters and at 10% for seniors and veterans.
One small landlord echoed Franklin’s concerns at Mt. Rainier’s council meeting.
“The rent stabilization law also disincentivizes maintenance for existing properties and disincentivizes new investment,” said Mt. Rainier Landlord Joel Kelty.
But, Martin Mitchell, a Laurel councilmember who has pushed for rent stabilization in his own city, disagrees.
“There’s rent stabilization in other cities and some of these other concerns, they’ve went unfounded,” he said.
Mt. Rainier’s new rent increase cap would not apply to every rental property in the Prince George’s County community.
It would only apply to rental properties less than 15 years old and rental units in buildings with two or fewer units.