The Montgomery County Planning, Housing and Parks Committee voted 3-0 on Dec. 1 to recommend forwarding Expedited Bill 31-25 to the full council. The bill extends the state-authorized six-day landlord notice for sheriff-executed evictions to 14 days and retains a county requirement that landlords provide a copy of that notice to the Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA).

Miss Wellens summarized the bill and noted the state law that took effect Oct. 1, 2025 authorizes localities to increase the minimum notice from six to 14 days. Council Member Mink, the sponsor, said the two principal elements are the longer notice and county notification so staff can prioritize county resources toward households most near eviction. "I've seen those benefits play out firsthand in my district," Mink said.

Scott Bridal, DHCA director, told the committee the notification is important for enforcement and, crucially, for outreach. DHCA plans to set up an email address to receive landlords' eviction notices, staff a position to enter notices into a shared database and immediately notify Services to End and Prevent Homelessness (SEF) and the Office of Landlord Tenant Affairs so outreach and rental-assistance triage can begin. "The change from the 6 day requirement to the 14 day requirement is incredibly important because...it's very hard to intervene" with shorter notice, Bridal said.

Committee members raised practical questions about enforcement and staffing. Several members favored keeping the DHCA notification rather than asking the sheriff's office to transmit notices because the sheriff lacks capacity and is not a county department that the council can compel. Members asked DHCA to follow up with Gaithersburg about how that city operationalized a similar requirement and to provide clearer fiscal assumptions about whether citation revenue would fund a DHCA staff position.

DHCA and HHS staff cited county homelessness trends to underline the bill's prevention rationale: homelessness in the county rose about 162% over five years and family homelessness rose 634%, and staff reported that prevention work in one recent case saved the county more than $1,000,000 in shelter costs. Committee members said those data support giving staff more notice and tools to intervene earlier.

The committee approved a set of clarifying amendments, including (a) a prospective timing clarification so the 14-day rule does not apply to repossessions scheduled less than 14 days after the act's effective date; (b) requiring DHCA to maintain a single-page eviction-resources link and update it annually in partnership with SEF; and (c) directing DHCA to record notices and share them immediately with SEF. The committee recommended the bill and asked staff to provide additional operational details at or before the full-council hearing.

The measure will next be considered by the full county council.