CHAPTER 649
(House Bill 605)

AN ACT concerning

Real Property - Landlord-Tenant Actions

FOR the purpose of revising provisions of law relating to landlords and tenants;
clarifying the rent escrow procedures to be followed in certain landlord-tenant
actions; providing miscellaneous requirements for lease option agreements,
security deposits, landlords' receipts, and residential leases; clarifying the
procedures to be followed in instances of retaliatory evictions; providing for the
termination of certain residential losses upon a tenant's involuntary
employment transfer, illness, or disability; authorizing the District Court court
to award certain late fees and additional accruing installments of rent in certain
summary ejectment actions; authorizing the District Court court to enter
judgments for unpaid rent under certain circumstances in certain tenant
holding over actions; authorizing a tenant who has not been personally served
with a summons to make a limited appearance in certain landlord-tenant
actions without becoming subject to the personal jurisdiction of the court;
providing that the acceptance of rent payment under certain circumstances
shall not constitute a waiver of certain rights absent a specific written
agreement to the contrary; defining certain terms; establishing procedures to be
followed in wrongful detainer actions; providing a cause of action for the
wrongful eviction of a tenant; establishing procedures to be followed where the
title to real property is claimed to be disputed in a landlord-tenant action;
clarifying the procedures to be followed when a party in certain landlord-tenant
actions elects a trial by jury; authorizing the District Court court to exercise
injunctive powers in certain landlord-tenant actions; making technical and
stylistic changes; and generally relating to the rights and obligations of
landlords and tenants and actions involving landlords and tenants.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article - Real Property

Section 8-118, 8-202, 8-203, 8-205, 8-208, 8-208.1, 8-210, 8-212.1, 8-213,
8-401, 8-402, 8-402.1 and 8-403

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1996 Replacement Volume and 1998 Supplement)

BY adding to

Article - Real Property

Section 8-118.1, 8-203.1, 8-402.3, 8-402.4, 8-404, and 8-601 through 8-604,
inclusive

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1996 Replacement Volume and 1998 Supplement)
BY repealing