College Park Officials Ready To Enforce Rent Restrictions

City begins mailing notices as landlords contemplate possible legal action

College Park officials said Tuesday they have begun enforcing the city's rent stabilization ordinance, but many landlords who oppose the law are unsure whether they will comply or seek further legal action.
 
The ordinance, which was first passed in 2005, bars residential landlords in the city from collecting monthly rent greater than 0.6 percent of a home's assessed property value. The city had yet to enforce the law due to a 2006 lawsuit from landlords who argued it unfairly targets them because it excludes owners of high rises for students.
The suit was dismissed in 2008, and rejected by the state Court of Appeals on Aug. 25.
 
The city began last week mailing notices to its 1,015 registered rental properties, said city public services director Bob Ryan. Owners will have 30 days to return forms providing information on the rent they charge, and could receive a warning followed by a $500 fine if they fail to do so.
 
"It's a labor-intensive process," Ryan said. The city will pay staff $24,000 this fiscal year to review documents and enforce the ordinance. "The staff is competent and familiar with the ordinance, and working as a team."
 
Landlords ordered to lower their rents could comply or appeal to a seven-member city rent stabilization board, which would include at least two landlords and two renters to allow input from both sides.

City officials have long said the ordinance will keep housing affordable and cut down on the number of code violations ignored by absentee landlords. While the ordinance faces no current legal challenges, landlords who attended Tuesday's City Council meeting said they are in talks with attorney John Maloney, who represented landlords in the Board of Appeals case, and declined to rule out further legal action.
 
Landlords John Havermill and Lisa Miller argued the ordinance discriminates against students and is designed to get them out of neighborhoods and into lucrative high rises like University View and Mazza Grandmarc. City officials have estimated that 17,000 of the 37,000 students at the University of Maryland, College Park, live off-campus, but have been unable to estimate how many live in the city.
 
Havermill and Miller complained the complexes charge rates typically exceeding $850 a month, while landlords have said the average rate for a room in a single-family home is $500 to $600.

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