(a) Creation. The County Executive must appoint, subject to confirmation by the County Council, a Commission on Landlord-Tenant Affairs. (b) Composition. (1) The Commission has 12 members and 3 alternate members. Each member must be a County resident. (2) Four members and one alternate member each must be: (A) an owner of rental housing located in the County; (B) a manager, or an employee of a manager, of rental housing located in the County; or an attorney who primarily represents owners or managers of rental housing; or (C) nominated by an organization that represents owners or managers of rental housing located in the County. (3) Four members and one alternate member each must be: (A) a tenant of rental housing in the County, or (B) an attorney who primarily represents tenants of rental housing; or (C) nominated by an organization that represents tenants of rental housing located in the County. A member appointed under this paragraph must not derive a substantial portion of his or her income from rental housing. (4) Four members and one alternate member must be selected from the public at large. A member appointed to represent the public at large must not be qualified for appointment under subparagraph (2)(A), (2)(B), (3)(A), or (3)(B), or otherwise derive a substantial portion of his or her income from rental housing or tenants of rental housing. (5) As used in this subsection, an attorney primarily represents either owners and managers of rental housing, or tenants of rental housing, if at the time of appointment the attorney appeared in 10 or more landlord-tenant cases in any jurisdiction, and represented that type of client in more than 60% of the attorney's landlord-tenant cases, in the preceding 12 months. As used in this subsection, a "substantial portion" of a person's income means, measured at the time of appointment, either: (A) $10,000 or more of that person's family income during the preceding calendar year, or (B) the ownership of more than 5% of any rental housing unit, or any ownership interest in any business that owns or manages rental housing. The Director must adjust the $10,000 amount in the preceding sentence each year by the increase or decrease in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA), as published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the preceding calendar year, rounded to the nearest multiple of $10. (c) Member disclosure. Each member of the Commission must submit the financial disclosure statement required under Chapter 19A within 15 days after the Council confirms the member. (d) Term. The term of each member of the Commission is 3 years. Each member continues to serve until a successor is appointed and confirmed. (e) Compensation. Members of the Commission serve without compensation, except reimbursement for expenses as appropriated. (f) Termination of Term. The term of a member terminates immediately if the member no longer qualifies to serve under subsection (b). In that case, the alternate for the category under which a member was appointed automatically succeeds to the remainder of that member’s term. (g) Vacancy. The Executive must appoint a qualified person to fill each vacancy on the Commission within 30 days after the vacancy occurs. The Council must decide whether to confirm the person that the Executive appoints within 30 days after the Executive submits the appointment to the Council. A vacancy occurs when a member's term expires or a member resigns, dies, or is removed from office.

In addition to any other power, duty, or responsibility provided in this Chapter, the Commission has the following powers and duties: (a) The Commission may adopt regulations under method (2) as necessary to carry out this Chapter. (b) The Commission may enforce this Chapter through any appropriate means, including: (1) providing any services available through the Department; (2) awarding money damages against a landlord or tenant for the benefit of either, as provided in this Chapter; (3) ordering repairs by a landlord or tenant; (4) investigating and conciliating any violation of or complaint filed under this Chapter, and investigating any matter relating to a license to operate a rental housing; and (5) imposing a monetary penalty against a landlord or tenant when a penalty is specified in a law enforced by the Commission, including an award up to three times the amount of any part of a security deposit withheld by a landlord without a reasonable basis. (c) The Commission must provide information that the County Council or County Executive may require.

(a) Officers. The Commission must elect from its members a chair, vice-chair, and any other officers the Commission deems necessary. Each officer serves at the pleasure of the Commission. (b) Meetings. (1) The chair calls all Commission meetings. (2) The Commission must meet as often as necessary to perform its duties, but not less often than once each month. (3) The chair must call a meeting within 10 days after receiving a request from a majority of the members. (c) Quorum. (1) A majority of the members of the Commission is a quorum for the transaction of business. (2) Any official action of the Commission requires a majority vote of the members present at the meeting, but not less than 5 members. (d) Alternates. If a Commission member is absent from a meeting, the alternate for the category under which the absent member was appointed may participate and vote at that meeting in place of the absent member.

The Department must provide staff support to the Commission.

(a) The Commission may, in its discretion, appoint non-voting ex-officio members to assist in the performance of its duties. (b) The chair of the Commission may, with the approval of the Commission, appoint committees from its members to assist in carrying out any function of the Commission. Any committee appointed must consist of not less than 3 members, and no more than 2 members of any committee may be from any group listed in Section 29-9(b)(2), (3), or (4). Committee actions are not the actions of the Commission and do not bind the Commission or its members. (c) The chair of the Commission may appoint advisory committees of citizens and at least one Commission member who in the judgment of the chair will aid the Commission in carrying out this Chapter. Advisory committee actions are not the actions of the Commission and do not bind the Commission or its members.

(a) When warranted by the size of the caseload or length of required hearings, the chair of the Commission may designate 3 members of the Commission, one of whom must be a tenant member, one of whom must be a landlord member and one of whom must be a public at large member, to sit as a panel to conduct a hearing on any complaint or appeal pending before the Commission. The chair must designate one panel member to serve as panel chair. Depending on the extent to which panels are used, the chair of the Commission must rotate panel membership among members of the Commission. (b) If a Commission panel hears a matter, any panel member must not participate in the final decision if the member has not attended each session of the hearing. All official action by the panel must be taken by the vote of not less than 2 members of the panel. If a Commission member's term expires while the member serves on a hearing panel, that member may continue to participate in the panel until the panel has rendered a final decision. (c) Except as otherwise provided in this Section, the provisions of this Chapter pertaining to the conduct of hearings before the Commission apply to hearings conducted by Commission panels. (d) Decisions of a Commission panel are final and may be appealed to the Circuit Court as if they were decisions of the full Commission. (e) If a Commission panel is unable to decide any complaint or appeal pending before it due to a tie vote resulting from the failure of any panel member to vote, the complaint or appeal must be referred to the entire Commission for the Commission's decision, based on the record established before the Commission panel, without further hearing.

The Commission must, within 30 days following each quarter of the calendar year, report to the County Executive and County Council on the number of complaints filed during that quarter, and the nature and disposition of each complaint. This report must list all court cases arising under this Chapter.