At the direction of County Executive Marc Elrich and following the County Council’s approval of Executive Regulation 5-17 “Troubled Properties,” the Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) launched a new interactive housing code website at https://stat.montgomerycountymd.gov/stories/s/54rw-g6jz as well as the Troubled Property List at https://data.montgomerycountymd.gov/Consumer-Housing/Troubled-Properties-Analysis/bw2r-araf.
The new website provides interactive maps, a progress report on DHCA’s two-year inspection surge, housing code statistics including violation details, useful links to tenant rights information and the Troubled Property List.
Executive Regulation 5-17 “Troubled Properties” is one of three new regulations that better protects tenants and further promotes building safety. The other two regulations are:
Executive Regulation 02-17 – “Establishing Inspection Fees.” Multifamily rental property owners must correct housing code violations by the first re-inspection. If problems persist, property owners will receive citations and will pay for all subsequent inspections based upon an escalating fee schedule.
Executive Regulation 3-18 – “Repair and Deduct.” If landlords fail to correct a housing code violation timely, the DHCA Director may authorize tenants to repair the violation and deduct up to one month’s rent.
The designation of troubled properties is intended to assist DHCA in prioritizing where to focus its limited housing code inspection resources among the 688 multifamily rental properties in Montgomery County; these properties contain approximately 73,000 individual rental units.
“Troubled property” is a multifamily rental property, which – because of the severity and quantity of housing code violations observed during DHCA’s most recent inspection of the property – is subject to annual inspections by the DHCA.
A property may also be designated as a troubled property if one or more of the following conditions are observed:
Rodent or insect infestation affecting 20 percent or more of the units in the building;
Extensive or visible mold growth on interior walls or exposed surfaces;
Windows that do not permit a safe means of egress;
Pervasive or recurring water leaks resulting in chronic dampness, mold growth, or personal property damage in more than one unit; and,
Lack of one or more working utilities that is not shut off due to tenant non-payment.
Additionally, a property designated as troubled must develop and implement a corrective action plan that describes in detail the specific actions that the landlord will take within a specified time schedule to both identify and correct current and ongoing housing code violations in a timely manner and prevent future housing code violations to the greatest extent possible. A troubled property must also submit a quarterly log of its internal maintenance calls upon the request of DHCA.