Marvin Mandel, Governor                       1047

(b)    Jurisdiction in all cases of distress for rent shall be vested
exclusively in the district court regardless of the amount of rent
for which distress is brought and notwithstanding any limitation
imposed by law on the civil monetary jurisdiction of such court.

(c)    An action of distress shall be brought only for unpaid rent
under a lease in writing for a term of more than three months,
or under a tenancy at will or a periodic tenancy that has been con-
tinued for more than three months.

(d)    An action of distress shall be brought in the county in which
the leased premises lie.

8-303. 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.

8-304. Order of levy; service of petition and order; inventory; re-
turn; 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 dis-
trained 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 serving 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 defen-
dant 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.

8-305. Goods levied upon; exclusions from levy; exemptions from
distress for ground rent.

(a) The levy under an action of distress shall be made solely on
goods as defined in § 8-301 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.