Rockville staff outline major landlord‑tenant code changes including relocation assistance, fee caps and background‑check limits

City staff on Feb. 23 presented a comprehensive set of proposed updates to Rockville’s landlord‑tenant code designed to strengthen tenant protections while outlining guardrails for landlords.

Jane Lyons Raider, the city’s housing programs manager in the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), and Trevor Stevens, the city’s housing and landlord‑tenant specialist, asked the Mayor and Council for guidance on recommended items that include background‑check restrictions, relocation assistance, fee limitations and transparency, a requirement that landlords offer a two‑year lease term, and increased municipal penalties for Chapter 18 violations.

Why it matters: the proposals would change how landlords screen tenants, respond when units are rendered uninhabitable, and how routine fees and fines are governed — all areas that advocates and property managers say affect housing stability and investment.

Staff described the background‑check framework as largely modeled on the Montgomery County Housing Justice Act’s Ban‑the‑Box approach: an initial prescreening/conditional offer phase that prohibits questions about criminal history, followed by a secondary review with written notice and a seven‑day response window if a check is initiated. Jane Lyons Raider said the county’s model also excludes certain violent and extreme felonies from the protections and staff recommended following…