Committee advances bill to let consumer-protection law cover landlords; officials warn of staffing, fiscal and court-process implications

Montgomery County's Public Safety Committee voted March 17 to advance Bill 625, which expands the county's consumer-protection law to include rental housing and removes the defective-tenancy exemption that had limited enforcement.

Miss McCartney Green, presenting the bill, said the measure "would expand the definition of person to include a landlord" and clarified that consumer goods and services would explicitly include rental housing. She described the change as a way to use existing enforcement tools to hold chronically noncompliant landlords accountable rather than create new tenant-protection regulations.

McCartney Green told the committee a late fiscal-impact statement estimated additional expenditures of approximately $248,000 in fiscal 2026 and roughly $388,000 in fiscal 2027 to cover investigative staff responding to an increased volume of landlord-tenant complaints. "There are no revenues listed; revenues are unknown because that is dependent on enforcement," she said.

Scott Bruton, director of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and Office of Consumer Protection staff emphasized the need for coordination between agencies. Bruton noted that in FY24 DHCA and the county attorney sought about $1,500,000 in unpaid fines but only recovered about $100,375, arguing the current enforcement approach has limits that this bill is intended to address.

County legal and enforcement staff said the bill expands tools available under Chapter 11 and Chapter 29, including the possibility of pursuing circuit-court actions for higher-dollar, repeated violations. Officials cautioned that circuit-court litigation is more resource-intensive and that standard operating procedures and a memorandum of understanding between DHCA, OCP and the Office of the County Attorney will be needed to avoid duplication and manage workloads.

Committee members and staff discussed hiring two additional OCP positions and asked for an amended fiscal-impact statement that reflects the administration’s collaborative operational model rather than a duplicative approach. Ms. McCartney Green clarified that the bill is not expedited and therefore would take effect 91 days after the County Executive signs it if adopted.

The committee approved a motion to advance Bill 625 by a 3-0 vote and asked staff to return an amended fiscal-impact statement and to lay out MOUs/SOPs for operational coordination before full Council consideration.