Landlords

A federal lawsuit that challenged Howard County's requirement that landlords accept tenants with rent subsidies has been quietly dismissed.The suit was filed in May by Clary's Crossing Apartments in Columbia, after a woman with a federal Section 8 voucher complained to the county that she was denied a chance to rent an apartment there. County law barring discrimination against people with subsidized incomes essentially requires landlords to participate in the Section 8 housing program.But in October, the apartment complex dropped its challenge to that law after its owner, Merry Land & Investment Co. of Augusta, Ga., was acquired in a merger with Chicago-based Equity Residential Properties.

In the wake of Baltimore's deadliest house fire in three years, the City Council is trying anew to force landlords to install smoke detectors in virtually all rental units.Councilwoman Sheila Dixon, who represents West Baltimore, introduced a bill last night that would require smoke detectors in the bedrooms of rental dwellings with one, two or three apartments.Dixon said she wants to make sure more dwellings have smoke detectors after six children died in a fast-moving blaze in their rowhouse shortly after midnight March 3. Firefighters did not find a smoke detector in the house.

A proposed measure that would require property owners to make sure that furniture and other discarded items don't become an eyesore on Baltimore streets after an eviction was trashed last night by an unusual coalition of tenants and landlords.Fifth District Councilwoman Vera P. Hall was forced to ask the City Council to delay action for two weeks on her proposal after it became clear that lobbying by critics of the legislation would prevent her from getting enough votes for its approval.Under Mrs. Hall's bill, landlords would not be allowed to put items left after an eviction on the street, which is what they are required to do under current law. Instead, landlords would have to take "eviction chattels" directly to a licensed landfill.

Baltimore's landlords have gone to the General Assembly seeking relief from a torrent of lead-paint lawsuits and from costly lead-paint abatement regulations that they say are driving them out of business.With three bills introduced recently in the Senate, property owners are trying to erect a shield against hundreds of suits filed in the city by tenants with lead-poisoned children.Landlords also want the right to evict tenants and abandon their properties if removing or abating toxic lead paint might cost more than the building is worth.

A compromise proposal aimed at reducing widespread lead-paint poisoning hazards in Maryland's rental housing has drawn fire from virtually all sides, and the wounds may be fatal.The plan, drafted by the staff of the governor's Lead Paint Poisoning Commission as a basis for legislation, took a beating Friday from two dozen health activists, landlords, lawyers, environmentalists and housing experts."I've heard person after person come up here and tell us this is the most worthless document they've read," said William Clark, a commission member, during the first public hearing on the plan at the University of Maryland Law School downtown.

WASHINGTON - They didn't leave their names, and they didn't say where they lived. But a few months ago, Tracey Gill started hearing their stories on her message machine. "These women were saying that their landlords were requesting sex in return for letting them stay in their apartments - demanding sex, I guess is more like it," said Gill, fair housing program manager at Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc. "It was just disgusting." But it was not the first time Gill had heard such a tale. "Year before last," she said, "we did have a woman who filed a complaint against a mortgage loan officer who basically said that only way she was going to get that loan was if she would `put out,' so to speak."

For most of her landlords over the past three years, Kay Lorraine Clary has been a nightmare -- "a predatory tenant."In Howard and Baltimore counties, the 31-year-old administrative assistant and her former boyfriend have left a trail of damaged houses, civil judgments for thousands of dollars and at least seven victimized landlords, according to court records and the landlords.During the past few months, some of Ms. Clary's former landlords have formed an informal support group, tracking her ,, and her ex-boyfriend, and trying to get authorities to file criminal charges against them -- a rare step in rent disputes.

The owners of about 40,000 older apartments across the state face fines of up to $250 per day if they fail to meet a Feb. 24 deadline to obtain certificates proving they have reduced the risk of lead poisoning to children, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment. Landlords who do not yet have "lead hazard risk reduction" certificates need to hire licensed inspectors to make sure the rental properties do not have lead dust or peeling paint, said Horacio Tablada, director of waste management for MDE. The requirement applies to all rental units built before 1950, regardless of whether children live in them.

For three years, Councilwoman Vera P. Hall has tried to figure out a better way to get rid of the trash and furniture left on the streets after a family's eviction.Such household stuff makes a neighborhood look run down.But Mrs. Hall's proposed solution has pleased neither tenants nor landlords.Say the words "eviction chattels," and you're likely to get a blank stare from a lot of people. But while they may not be familiar with the legal term for the unsightly trash and furniture left on the street after an eviction, people know they don't like it."

In an ambitious effort to rid Baltimore of thousands of boarded-up homes, the Schmoke administration is preparing to give absentee landlords an ultimatum: Either fix the dilapidated properties or the city will tear them down.The focus of the initiative, never tried before on a citywide scale in Baltimore, is the growing inventory of vacant, deteriorating homes throughout the city's poorest neighborhoods. The number of vacant homes has increased from 5,500 to 7,700 in the past six years and is expected to reach 8,000 next year if the rate of abandonment continues unchecked.