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<section number="13-169" name="Relocation expenses; first right to occupy" law="code" slug="sec-13-169" node_id="PTIITI17PULOLAPRGECOMA_SUBTITLE_13HOPRST_DIV3LANARE_SD2LANACO_S13-169REEXFIRIOC">
  <level label="a">
    <text>Definitions. As used in this Section:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Department means the Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Permanently displaced tenant means a tenant that is required to vacate rental housing for 30 days or more because the rental housing is condemned as unfit for human habitation under Section 13-113 of this Code.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Temporarily displaced tenant means a tenant that is required to vacate rental housing for less than 30 days because the rental housing is condemned as unfit for human habitation under Section 13-113 of this Code.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <level label="1">
      <text>Relocation payment required. A landlord must pay a relocation payment to a permanently or temporarily displaced tenant.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <level label="A">
        <text>Relocation payment not required. A landlord with five (5) or less dwelling units is not required to provide a relocation payment.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="B">
        <text>A landlord is not required to provide a relocation payment if the Director determines that the rental housing is condemned due to a natural disaster.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="C">
        <text>A landlord is not required to provide a relocation payment for a building originally designed and constructed to contain only two (2) dwelling units, one of which the owner currently occupies as a principal residence (domicile);</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>Relocation amount.</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Permanently displaced tenants. For a permanently displaced tenant, the landlord must, within 72 hours of the posting of the condemnation:</text>
      <level label="A">
        <text>return to the permanently displaced tenant the tenant's security deposit with required interest pursuant to Md. Real Property Code Ann., Sec. 8-203(e);</text>
      </level>
      <level label="B">
        <text>pay to the permanently displaced tenant any pro rata rent for the remainder of the month; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="C">
        <text>pay to the permanently displaced tenant the greater of:</text>
        <level label="i">
          <text>3 months' fair market value rent for a unit of comparable size, as established by the most current Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development schedule of fair market rents for the zip code of the rental housing being vacated; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="ii">
          <text>3 months' of the tenant's rent under the lease at the time of relocation.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Temporarily displaced tenants.</text>
      <level label="A">
        <text>For a temporarily displaced tenant, the landlord must, within 24 hours of the posting of the condemnation:</text>
        <level label="i">
          <text>provide alternative, safe, legal, comparable housing, as determined by the Department, for the temporarily displaced tenant and the tenant's belongings for the displacement period; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="ii">
          <text>pay for the costs of the immediate relocation of the temporarily displaced tenant and the tenant's belongings.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="B">
        <text>At the end of the displacement period, the landlord must pay the costs to move the tenant and the tenant's belongings back to the tenant's original rental housing.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="C">
        <text>If the replacement housing provided under subsection (c)(2)(A) is not comparable, the landlord must pay an approved allowance determined by Council resolution.</text>
      </level>
      <level label="D">
        <text>A landlord must ensure that the lease in effect at the time of a temporarily displaced tenant's return to the tenant's original rental housing contains lease provisions substantially similar to the lease in effect at the time of displacement, including provisions regarding the length of the lease term and the amount of rent due.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Alternative payment.</text>
      <level label="A">
        <text>Notwithstanding the relocation payment required under this Section, a landlord and tenant may agree to an alternative arrangement if the alternative arrangement:</text>
        <level label="i">
          <text>is of equal benefit to the tenant; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="ii">
          <text>is evidenced by a written agreement between the tenant and the landlord that meets the criteria in subsection (c)(3)(B).</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="B">
        <text>A written agreement detailing the alternative arrangement must contain:</text>
        <level label="i">
          <text>the names of the current occupants of the condemned rental housing;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="ii">
          <text>the address of the condemned rental housing;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="iii">
          <text>a statement indicating the amount of the relocation payment to which the tenant is entitled under subsection (c)(1) or (c)(2);</text>
        </level>
        <level label="iv">
          <text>a statement that the tenant has waived the right to the relocation payment;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="v">
          <text>a description of the alternative arrangement; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="vi">
          <text>the address, if known, of the location to which the tenant plans to move.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <text>Proof of compliance. A landlord must retain a copy of the check or money order provided to the displaced tenant and a receipt signed by the tenant for a period of five (5) years.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <text>First right to reoccupy.</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>A landlord must provide a permanently displaced tenant with the first right to reoccupy rental housing on the site once the rental housing becomes habitable.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The landlord must provide the permanently displaced tenant with written notice of the tenant's first right to reoccupy. The notice must include the landlord's current address and telephone number which the tenant can use to contact the landlord.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>It is the tenant's responsibility to provide the landlord with the tenant's current address and/or telephone number to be used for future notification.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>When the rental housing becomes habitable, the landlord must give written notice by certified mail to the tenant informing the tenant that the housing is ready for occupancy.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="5">
      <text>If the landlord cannot locate a previous tenant after 2 attempts over a 2-week period, the landlord is deemed to be in compliance with the requirements of this Section and the tenant's right to reoccupy is forfeited.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="6">
      <text>A permanently displaced tenant must notify a landlord of the tenant's intent to reoccupy the rental housing within 15 days after the landlord notifies the tenant that the rental housing is ready to be occupied. A permanently displaced tenant must reoccupy the rental housing within 20 days after the tenant notifies a landlord of the tenant's intent to reoccupy the rental housing.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="7">
      <text>A permanently displaced tenant may waive the right to reoccupy the rental housing at any time after displacement.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="f">
    <text>Penalty. Any landlord issued a citation for a violation of this Subdivision shall be subject to a fine of up to One-Thousand Dollars ($1,000). Each day a violation continues is a separate violation.</text>
  </level>
</section>
