MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                      1453

providing for recovery of damages and COURT costs, including
reasonable attorney's fee, by a tenant in a law suit to recover
deposits under this Act, and specifying that this Act shall only
apply to deposits made after its effective date.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That new Sections 41 to 43, inclusive, be and they are hereby added
to Article 53 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1968 Replacement
Volume), title ''Landlord and Tenant," to follow immediately after
Section 40 thereof and to be under the new subtitle "Tenants'
Deposits," and to read as follows:

"Tenants' Deposits"

41.

When a landlord or an authorized agent of the landlord requires
a deposit of money from a tenant in an apartment building AND/OR
DEVELOPMENT with 10 4 or more units prior to or in connection
with any lease, which is not credited to rent, the deposit shall be
deposited to an escrow account, which may be interest bearing.

Within thirty TEN TWENTY days after the termination of a lease,
any money held in connection with the lease in an escrow account
under the provisions of Section 41 of this subtitle shall be returned to

the tenant with any interest earned on the deposit; but the landlord

may deduct from the amount returned an amount equal to any rent
past due, an amount equal to damages for lost future rent where the
tenant vacates the leased premises prior to the expiration of the
term CONTRARY TO THE TERMS of the lease, and for any dam-
age to the property for which the tenant may properly be held liable.

43.

In any suit by a tenant to recover a deposit under this subtitle,
where the tenant has successfully established his right to the return
of all or part of the deposit, the tenant shall be entitled to recover as
damages the amount of the deposit and interest found due him plus
all costs of the action COURT COSTS including a reasonable attor-
ney's fee NOT TO EXCEED TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT (25%)
OF THE AMOUNT DUE. IF THE COURT SHOULD FIND THAT
THE SUIT WAS BROUGHT BY THE TENANT WITHOUT SUB-
STANTIAL JUSTIFICATION, THE LANDLORD SHALL BE
ENTITLED TO RECOVER A REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEE
NOT TO EXCEED TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT (25%) OF THE
AMOUNT DUE.

SEC. 2. THIS ACT SHALL NOT APPLY TO ANY PROJECT
OR DEVELOPMENT GOVERNED BY A REGULATORY AGREE-
MENT AS REQUIRED BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERN-
MENT, ANY OF ITS AGENCIES OR ASSIGNS WHICH PRO-
TECTS TENANT DEPOSITS.

Sec. 2. 3. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this
Act shall apply only to deposits made subsequent to the effective
date of this Act.

42.