1572                            LAWS OF MARYLAND                      [CH. 915

11.   Form of petition; contents.

An action of distress shall be brought by the landlord as plaintiff
and his petition shall name the tenant as defendant and shall set
forth the name and address of the landlord, the name and address of
the tenant, and the facts as to any assignment of lease, the premises
leased, the date of the lease, the term of the lease, the rent required
to be paid by the lease and the amount of the rent in arrears. The
petition shall be under oath or affirmation of the plaintiff, or his
agent, that the facts recited in the petition are true and correct.

12.   Order of levy and service; inventory; return; amended levy and
inventory.

(a)     Upon the filing of an action of distress the court shall
promptly issue an order directing that all goods on the leased premises
and not exempted by law shall be levied upon. A copy of the petition
of distress and the order of levy shall be served upon each tenant on
the leased premises. If no tenant is found on the premises, a copy
of the petition and order shall be affixed in a prominent place on the
interior of the leased premises. The officer making the levy shall
then proceed to make an inventory of each article of goods distrained
upon and shall deliver to each tenant found on the premises, or, if
not so found, leave affixed to the premises a copy of the inventory as
provided above in the case of the petition and order. The officer serv-
ing the order shall make a return of his action to the court including
the date and time thereof.

(b)    Whenever the plaintiff shall by verified petition request the
court to include in the levy goods subject to distress and claimed to
be on the leased premises but not included in the levy and inventory,
the court shall, after service of a copy of the petition on the defendant
and on any other person claiming an interest in the goods, conduct
a hearing on the petition and the court shall have the power to amend
the levy and inventory to include therein such of the goods as the
court shall find should be included therein.

13.   Goods levied upon; exclusions from levy; ground rent.

(a)     The levy under an action of distress shall be made solely on
goods as defined in Section 39A herein found on the leased premises,
regardless of whether such goods are the property of the tenant or of
some other person or persons, except as provided in subsection (b)
below.

(b)     When the term of a lease is for more than fifteen years, levy
shall be made solely on the goods of the tenant or owner of the lease-
hold interest found on the leased premises, and the goods of any
subtenant or of any third party on the leased premises shall not be
subject to levy under distress.

(c)    The goods and chattels and property of the tenant who has
paid his rent to the owner of the leasehold estate shall be absolutely
exempt from distraint for ground rent if any is due and owing to the
ground rent landlord by the owner of the leasehold estate.

14. Levied goods in custody of court.

Goods levied upon under distress shall be held thereafter in custodia
legis.