Landlords

A man and a woman have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 74-year-old Rosedale man who had planned to evict them from his home, according to Baltimore County police. A relative found the body of David Leroy Weeks on Friday night at his home in the 1200 block of Hilldale Road, police said. Weeks was found in his bed with a pillow taped over his head, and blood was on the sheets, according to police. Michael Paul DiMattei, 35, and Erin Eileen Steffy, 35, had lived with Weeks for several years, but the homeowner had planned to go to court to obtain an eviction notice on the day his body was discovered, police said.

A couple of weeks ago in my Table Talk column I wrote about oZ. Chophouse in Maple Lawn closing. It wasn't all bad news, however, because it was being taken over by Jordan Naftal of Jordan's Steakhouse in Ellicott City and Carlos Venegas of Ranazul in Maple Lawn. The new place would be named Carlos and Jordan's Steakhouse. Then came the surprising news last week that the landlord had locked Naftal out of his Ellicott City restaurant for failing to pay the rent. "Monday morning while I was working at the new location getting it ready," Naftal told me, "I found out from a prep cook that the landlord illegally locked us out. I spent the rest of the last 36 hours talking with employees, vendors, the landlord, prospective investors, the bank, friends and relatives."

A public dispute between the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center and its landlord over a $4,834.80 security deposit has been settled before going to trial, both sides confirmed. Grassroots, which argued that it should get the entire amount, got $4,000, and Bruce Taylor, who rented a house at his family's former psychiatric hospital to the nonprofit while its new building was under construction, kept the rest. Taylor's family operated the former Taylor Manor Psychiatric Hospital, now run by Sheppard Pratt.

On Monday, the Baltimore County Council unanimously enacted stronger zoning regulations governing rooming and boarding houses in an effort to deter irresponsible landlords from crowding rental homes with tenants. The law, which takes effect in 45 days, eliminates a loophole that allowed absentee landlords to circumvent zoning and create limited-liability corporations that gave tenants a small share of ownership. Rules limiting the number of unrelated tenants in a house to two do not apply to owners.

At a time when nonprofits are struggling with declines in donations, Howard County's primary homeless shelter is taking the scion of one of the area's most prominent families to court over a $4,834.80 security deposit. Leaders of the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center in Columbia are angry at what they see as an attempt by a former landlord to take advantage of a charity. "We work hard for every penny we get," said Grassroots' director, Andrea Ingram. "It's a huge amount of money if you think of it in terms of donations."

More than 90 percent of rental properties in Baltimore County have been inspected and licensed under a new countywide registration law, officials said. Nearly 12,000 rental properties have been registered, and officials said the county office of permits and inspections is still receiving about 80 applications a week. The law took effect in January after being delayed for six months to give landlords more time to comply. "There are a tremendous number of citizens sleeping a lot easier in their homes because of what has been fantastic compliance," said Mike Mohler, the county's deputy director of permits.

Hundreds of Howard County homeowners who also own rental properties soon will receive bills for undeserved property tax breaks they received under Maryland's Homestead Tax Credit program. The county expects to collect an extra $1.5 million in revenue after newspaper articles in April prompted officials to check their list of rental licenses against the state Department of Assessments and Taxation records of those receiving credits. As a result, county Finance Director Sharon Greisz said, $800,000 in credits were removed from 1,000 tax bills that were mailed to rental property owners July 1, and the county is seeking $725,000 more in back payments from those who collected the credits over the previous three fiscal years.

With Baltimore County landlords struggling to comply with new rental-property safety requirements, the County Council voted last night to give them another six months, after turning back a bid to repeal the new law. The council, which had been considering giving landlords until Oct. 1, voted unanimously to extend the deadline an extra three months to Jan. 1. The deadline had been July 1 when the council approved the law in December. According to Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, a Towson-Perry Hall Democrat, the bill will help stem the "deterioration of communities," and seeks only to enforce rental property requirements that have been county law for more than two decades.

The July 1 deadline for landlords in Baltimore County to have their rental properties inspected came and went. Now county lawmakers are talking about extending the deadline to Oct. 1 or later. And one councilman, T. Bryan McIntire, a North County Republican, has suggested scrapping the requirements altogether. About a dozen landlords and residents spoke at yesterday's council work session, most in support of extending the deadline or eliminating the program. The council is set to vote on the rental registration program and several other bills at its Aug. 4 legislative session.

Baltimore County's effort to improve the quality of rental housing countywide is off to a slow start, but that's perfectly understandable. It has taken time for word of the expanded program to get out, and only a handful of private inspectors are available to review thousands of homes and apartments. But just because only about 7,000 of the estimated 12,000 to 15,000 eligible apartments and other rental units have been enrolled doesn't make the program unworkable, as some critics have suggested.