All Politics Is Local
All Politics Is Local
Maryland's New Laws: What Tenants and Consumers Need to Know
Maryland's new legislative changes taking effect October 1, 2025, aim to significantly improve tenant protections and consumer rights across the state. We explore how these upcoming laws impact landlord-tenant relationships, hospital billing practices, payday lending, and introduce graduated fines for speeding violations.
Hi, welcome back to another episode of All Politics is Local with me, your host, tamara Davis-Brown. I decided that I would discuss next the topic of new laws that will be taking effect on October 1, 2025, as a result of the 2025 Maryland General Assembly legislative session. I'm going to focus primarily on housing and consumer bills, because my most popular and most viewed episode on this podcast has by far been Tenets Know your Rights. That was the first episode where I was actually asked by my participants and guests to appear on All Politics is Local. Usually I have to solicit guests to come and be on the podcast, but they actually asked me to help highlight an issue that dealt with Heather Hills Apartments in Temple Hills, maryland, and I agreed to do so, and I'm so glad that I did because, once again, that was like the most viewed and listened to podcast that I've had here on All Politics is Local. So I'm going to follow up because if you listen to that podcast, you may remember one of my guests, mr Martin Mitchell, talked about some laws that will take effect in October, on October 1st, and this is just a refresher of that, because October, believe it or not, is right around the corner. So October, believe it or not, is right around the corner.
Speaker 1:So we're going to discuss a few of those landlord-tenant bills that are taking effect October 1st, and we will talk about a few other bills that may deal with consumer issues. I used to be a member of the Maryland Consumer Council, which was just a voluntary position that worked out in collaboration with the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Maryland Attorney General, and so I like to say that I was instrumental governor's office to require mandatory mediation in home foreclosure cases, and this was during the 2008 housing crisis. So I have an affinity for some of the consumer protection laws that come out of the state as well. But let's talk about a few of the landlord-tenant laws that will take effect on October 1st 2025. And they are tenant-friendly. Maryland has not been known as a particularly tenant-friendly state like New York or the District of Columbia, and so we're kind of catching up a little bit in providing some tenant rights and tenant ability to, you know, deal with landlord issues that they may have.
Speaker 1:So one of the first ones deal with the cap on late rent penalties in residential leases. So a bill passed HB 273 passed out of the General Assembly and was signed by Governor Moore, which revises the cap on late rent penalties in residential leases, and it prohibits the penalties that exceed 5% of the unpaid rent as opposed to 5% of the total amount due. So if you have 5% of the unpaid rent as opposed to the total amount due because total amount due could include not only those penalties but other penalties that may be in the lease agreement as well you know, maybe you pay, maybe you have a residential lease where they pay for your utilities and they pay for you know some other things as well, and it's not just the rent itself. So the penalty for the cap on the penalty for late fees is 5% of the unpaid rent, not the total amount due, because they'll add they'll add, you know, other costs to that. So that is one bill that passed that will take effect October 1st. The second one is HB 767, which requires landlords to notify tenants when a court issues a warrant of restitution for nonpayment of of rent, for a breach of lease or for holding over. Holding over basically means your lease has expired and you didn't sign a new lease, but you're still staying in the property and it was the landlord's intention for you to move out so they could lease it to someone else and you're basically staying there and they call that holding over. So again, a landlord can still go to court to actually pursue any legal matters if you didn't pay your rent, if you breached a lease or if you held over. But they have to notify the tenants now when the court issues a warrant of restitution. So the bills, the new law, now sets the procedures and the requirements for executing the warrant for repossession of the property and once again, that also takes effect on October 1st.
Speaker 1:The next landlord-tenant bill that passed and has become law and will take effect on October 1st is SB 32, which requires the district court to hold a hearing within 40 to 45 days of the landlord's complaint, intended holdover cases. I'll just explain what the holdover was, and it says that if a landlord or their spouse is on active duty in the US military. So basically this is a couple that may be renting their house while they are away in active duty and they now, you know, about to come back or getting ready to come back, and so they, you know, give the tenant no to say, hey, we're coming back from overseas, we're coming back. The lease is now going to end. However, the tenant is continuing to stay in the property and holding over. So they are requiring that the district court hold a hearing within 45 days of that complaint and I guess that's to really that one's maybe not, as quote unquote friendly as to tenants more so than to the landlord. But under those circumstances it makes sense because, like I said, if you had a home and you were stationed and sent abroad and you may have been there two, three, four years and you're still renting your house in the state side in the United States, in Maryland obviously, and then you get orders to return home, then you're going to need to be able to come home fairly quickly once you get those orders and so the tenant, you know, may not get as much notice under other circumstances. So they are saying that the district court can hold a hearing within 45 days in those cases, within 45 days in those cases, and the case has to be that the landlord or their spouse is on active duty with the US military. So that is it for kind of landlord-tenants.
Speaker 1:But there's another bill under tax sales, and this has to do with A homeowner who has passed away and they have heirs that are living in the property, and this bill, hb 59, does authorize tax collectors to withhold from the tax cell certain properties occupied by heirs of deceased owners. Deceased owners, in other words, they won't go immediately to a tax sale if they know that they are heirs to the property living in the property, and that they are indeed heirs to the deceased owner. It does require specific owner-occupied properties or properties occupied by heirs to be excluded from tax sales. So that's a good thing because, you know, if a parent dies and they have an older adult child living in the home and the house, they may or may not know that there's some outstanding taxes that need to be paid. So it gives them that opportunity to, instead of the house being sold from out, from under them, to catch up and pay the outstanding property taxes after their deceased loved one has passed on. So that's a good thing. And so each county is going to have to establish a registry for interested parties and the tax sales bondsman may designate the properties to be withheld under the applicable law. And then, finally, the State Department of Assessment and Taxation is required to assist counties in creating and maintaining this registry upon request. And then the bill does you know a number of other provisions, does a number of other provisions, but the main thing is it excludes occupied homes that have outstanding indebtedness and property taxes from being put up for a tax sale. So that's a good thing. Let's see. I think that's all that really kind of deals with housing and landlord-tenant.
Speaker 1:There are some consumer-related bills that take effect. Actually, a few of them took effect. Well, actually a few of them will not take effect until June 1st 2026, but a few will take effect October 1st 2025. And one, once again, as a result of being a caretaker for my mom, I fully understand this about hospital bills. So HB 268 changes the law related to hospital financial assistance and debt collection policies. It specifies the percentage by which hospitals must reduce a patient's out-of-pocket expenses and it adds a notice requirement regarding financial assistance, and it prohibits a hospital from filing a civil action to collect the debt if the amount owed is $500 or less. Now, I doubt that there's any hospital bill that's less than $500, unless the patient has been actively paying on it and they've gotten it down to $500. If it's a buy, based on experience I know that it's a lot more. So this actually helps our patients with out-of-pocket expenses for financial debt as it relates to hospital stays, and so this bill does take effect October 1st 2025 as well.
Speaker 1:Then the next bill has to do with contract law, but it can apply to a number of different contracts. But it prohibits a consumer contract from imposing a shorter time limit for bringing an action than what is allowed under the law. In other words and as an attorney, I get frustrated with this myself because so many things are done electronically. You buy a new phone, you have to sign the electronic version of the contract or that's the big thing that I get. I go to the Verizon store and I'm like, nope, I'm not signing that because I don't agree to waive my rights and to go to court. I don't want to go through arbitration, I don't want to do a lot of things that these contracts say and you know we just signed for consent. You know you can go online and they ask you for your consent to do X, y, z and you're just trying to get to the app and you want to. You know, get an app and you're basically not reading the fine print and you're signing away your rights. That. So I kind of appreciate HB 431, because it does protect the consumer from when they could actually bring an action against whoever is selling them something and saying that because you can sign away and say well, you have to bring your action within three months. You have to bring your action within what have you? And it says this law prohibits contracts from making it shorter than what the law allows.
Speaker 1:Now you might ask well, what does the law allow for contracts? It depends on the type of contract. So certain contracts may have a longer period after the breach that you can bring an action. And usually under most contracts I'm trying to think you have a statute of limitation of about seven years or something like that. That's generally what it's been. There may be some contracts that are a little. This law actually was passed. It was signed into law by Governor Moore in April of this year, but it doesn't take effect. It's one of the ones that doesn't take effect on October 1st. It doesn't take effect until June 1st, 2026. And they probably extended that to allow for some contracts to be modified for the rest of the year, for them to go back and modify the contracts with this new language under the law and so to help them to bring their contracts in compliance with this new law. Let's see.
Speaker 1:Oh, another one dealing with hospitals and medical debt is HB 1020. It prohibits outpatient medical debt from being adversely reported to credit agencies. This law does take effect October 1st. Again, hb1020 prohibits outpatient medical debt from being adversely reported to credit agencies. So you know a lot of us now. I even had an outpatient procedure just recently, you know, in early in the morning, not that early, actually 10, 11 o'clock. My procedure started around 11. I was done probably about 2 and home probably about 3 pm, 3 pm. But if you have medical debt related to any outpatient procedure and whether that might be a hospital or a medical building, you cannot be adversely reported to credit agencies for failure to pay. Now that doesn't mean that you just get away with not paying. It just means that it won't be on your credit history and let's see In records Okay, so earn wages access.
Speaker 1:This bill has to do with payday loans and I dislike payday loans. All that's within me. I really dislike payday loans. So this is HB 1294. And I actually again, when I was on the Consumer Council I was trying to find, I was like is there something that we could do to outlaw payday loans? Parts of Prince George's County, you know, you have a plethora of payday loan stores, along with liquor stores and all these other things that we don't need in our county. That just basically victimizes those that don't have resources the poor, basically. So you're getting a payday loan and you're paying you know, a thousand percent I'm exaggerating, but it's pretty high.
Speaker 1:So this bill legalizes costly fintech payday loans where consumers pay fees and optimal optional tips to access their earned wages before payday. It says these fees and tips are likely to exceed Maryland longstanding 33% rate cap. So if you are trying to access your wages and you know you're getting ready to get paid and you get a quote unquote payday loan, none of the fees, none of the tips and all these other charges that they add to, including interest, says that those fees can no longer exceed 33% rate cap. Now what's interesting about this is it says it's fees and tips to Maryland's quote longstanding 33% rate cap, which means the payday lenders were just coming up with fees and expenses and coming up with all kinds of other charges that they can add to the payday loan that exceeded that 33% cap. They knew it was a 33% cap before they started adding these additional fees and, in quote, unquote tips, because it's a Maryland long standing 33% break cap. So they were trying to get around that by calling these additional fees as fees and optional tips and so forth and so on and just adding to the amount of interest that a employee would have to repay on their payday loan. So again, this is just, you know, to stop these predatory lenders from continuing to charge exorbitant fees for a person who is working, does receive a paycheck, but maybe need to access their funds a little bit sooner or earlier in order to pay their rent, to pay for food, pay for whatever transportation costs to get to work. Perhaps what have you and these predatory lenders are, you know, just racking up the fees. I still think 33% rate cap is high. Nevertheless, it's saying that these additional fees cannot be charged or if they are charged, they can't exceed. Once you add up the percentage, it can't exceed 33%. So good for the Consumer Protection Division. I'm sure they introduced that piece of legislation. So happy to see that. So those are just some of the few laws that are going to take effect October 1st.
Speaker 1:But because I sit on the Maryland 210 Traffic Safety Committee that deals with trying to change driver behavior and modify driver behavior on that stretch of roadway so we can not have as many crashes and fatalities and it just seems like it's never ending. The more we try it seems like the worse it gets. I think the last crash we had on that road resulted in three fatalities this year and it's just unbearable really. My son travels that roadway every day. Occasionally it depends on which way my husband drives, he may be on that roadway as well. I travel on that roadway and you really have to be paying attention. Spokes do crazy things. They drive on the shoulder to go around, they run the red lights, they do just a lot of things.
Speaker 1:But anyway, one of the bills that the Maryland 210 Traffic Safety Committee finally got passed, after I think three attempts, was to have a graduated increase in the fines. So right now, before October 1st, if you go 11 miles and beyond over the speed limit, your traffic ticket is only $40. And that's pretty much it. So it's not really a deterrent to people. You know $40, they can, you know, pay that and keep rolling or not pay it and try to get around. You know, have to make the state go through enforcement and all kinds of other things which we're working on that as well.
Speaker 1:But you have a grace in terms of the speeding. The speed limit is currently 55 miles an hour. Right, if you travel 66 miles an hour, you get an 11 mile buffer. You will not get a ticket. So between anything 56 and 66, you will not get a ticket on Maryland 210. If you go over 66 miles an hour, so 67 is when the fines start to rack up if you're caught by. Oh and, by the way, this is for speed cameras. Sorry, I meant to say that this is just for the speed camera. So if you go over 66 miles an hour right now you can go 66, you can go 100, 190, somebody has been clocked going at 190, 170, something really ridiculous and the fine was just $40. So, again, not much of a deterrent.
Speaker 1:But with the new law that's going to take effect October 1st, there's a graduated fee. So between 67 and 70 miles an hour, the ticket is now $60 instead of 40. From 71 to 74 miles per hour, the ticket is now $80. From 75 to 84, the ticket would be $140. From 85 to 94 miles per hour, the ticket is $270. And anything over 95 miles per hour, the ticket is $500. So the hope is that it's a pain in the pocketbook and you'll think twice about exceeding the speed limit beyond the 11 mile buffer that you already get before the camera flashes and takes your license tags and all that stuff and sends you the ticket in the mail.
Speaker 1:So this is only for the speed cameras. Obviously, if you get stopped by a police officer, they have the discretion to give you a warning, they can give you a ticket. They can do a whole lot more than just what a speed camera can do, because it's not a live person. Just you know just a lot more. A police officer can, you know, can impose a lot of other things, charge you with reckless driving and make you come to court and all kinds of other things.
Speaker 1:But this is just for the speed cameras.
Speaker 1:So again, you get that. You still get the 11 miles an hour buffer with no ticket. You get caught. You go on 66. You know you're not going to get a ticket. Once you hit 67 is when the tickets will be issued.
Speaker 1:So 67 miles per hour to 70 is a $60 ticket, still not too much.
Speaker 1:71 to 74 miles per hour is an $80 ticket.
Speaker 1:75 to 84 miles per hour is a $140 ticket.
Speaker 1:85 to 94 miles per hour is a $270 ticket and anything over 95 miles per hour over the speed limit is a $500 ticket.
Speaker 1:The speed limit is a $500 ticket. So driver beware on 210, especially coming out of down Ackakeek, through Ackakeek, where it's that flat road everybody likes to speed and that's where we have a bulk of our traffic accidents and fatalities and crashes. We also have had some further up, headed north, but both headed north and south. When you get closer to that Akaquik line people seem to just push it and unfortunately we've had a lot of fatalities which we are trying to stop the fatalities, stop the crashes and save a life. So be safe out there on the roads, not just 210 because they're traffic cameras, but just because it's the right thing to do. So. Thanks for listening. Look forward to another episode and feel free to share information about all. Politics is local with me. Your host, tamara Davis Brown them beyond just a ballot box but to be actively engaged in our county, to know what's going on in their county and state and be active members of society. Thanks for listening and we'll be back with another episode.
