ALOC NEWS

April 2 , 2001

Associated Landlords of the Cumberland Area
ALOC Phone (301) 759-0530 P.O. Box 1867

Vol. 7, Issue 4

March Speaker

Royce Rogers with the Cumberland Fire Department will be our speaker for the next meeting. Royce is the fire inspector for the City of Cumberland and is involved with building permits as well as fire investigations.

Title X Disclosures

A federal grand jury in Greenbelt, MD has indicted a 65- year-old Silver Spring man on charges of obstruction and submitting false documents to federal officials to conceal the presence oflead-based paint in apartments he owns in MD and DC.
David Nuyen, who owns and manages 15 low-income rental properties failed to give his tenants the EP A booklets about lead hazards and did not have on record valid signed disclosure forms. He apparently supplied fraudulent papers that were backdated
If convicted Mr. Nuyen faces five years in prison on each of the 15 count indictments as well as a $ 250,000 criminal fine.

With this in mind it is advisable for all ALOC members to make sure that they have the proper Disclosure forms signed by the property owner and tenant with a copy retained with the lease package for possible inspection by the Feds.

A copy of our form that also includes the information regarding the MDE is attached for the membership to use. This form must be filled out and signed by all new tenants along with the lease and you should have signed copies for existing tenants as well. Additional forms are available for $ O .15 each as mentioned below.

Filling out these forms is fairly simple and we will provide detailed instructions on how to use these forms at our April meeting. Do not attempt to use these forms unless you know how to use them. Most of the lead inspectors advertising in our newsletter can help you with this paperwork as they inspect your rental units.

Permit Committee

ALOC president JeffHutter has been working with Jeff Rhodes and inspectors Dave Cox and Shawn Llewellyn to make some changes to the City Housing Code. Now that many of the construction permit changes have been presented to the Mayor and Council we expect to see the focus change to the Housing Code.

As mentioned earlier we "believe" that there will be many changes to the Code. Some will be minor to clear up wording or clarify meanings while others will be substantial. We expect to see the yearly registration fee reduced (no ideas as to the amount at this time) and the inspections shifted to a complaint based system where there could possibly be spot inspections.

For those persons, Landlords or tenants, wishing inspections there may be fees involved to cover the time involved for the city inspectors. The city is looking to direct these inspectors to spending more time working on building/construction permits that may result in more business within the City limits.

We are going to ask that we be able to re-register each year by submitting a copy of the MD E paperwork we fill out at
the end of each calendar year. We believe that the City will stick with its fiscal year renewal date of June 30th.

Any ALOC member who has any ideas as to changes they would like to see made to the Code are urged to contact Jeff Hutter as soon as possible at 301-777-0379 in the evenings or on weekends.
Please DO Not call the City about these proposals as nothing is anywhere near final!!!

More Inspectors

We continue to see more ALOC members becoming lead inspectors, which is clearly evident from the increasing amount of ads in our newsletter. Please try to patronize our members who are inspectors.

Maryland Property Owners Notes

The Maryland Property Owners Network will be meeting later in April to reviewand discuss the damages done to us by the Maryland Legislature. The session will not officially end until April12th and the bills listed below mayor may not be passed successfully by the House and Senate and signed by the Governor.

HE 66 -Smoke Detectors -Disclosure This bill passed by the House would require single family homes that are leased or sold with AC only smoke detectors to have a disclosure indicating that the detectors will not work if there is a power failure. The disclosure would require signing by the lessee and or purchaser.
HE 864 -Landlord & Tenant- Expedited Eviction Authority This bill was passed out of committee and would allow a landlord to move up to a 5 day notice from the usual 30 days, if, there is a breach and clear and imminent danger to the tenant or other. HE 1107 -Reduction of Lead Risk -Housing Subsidy This died in committee but would have allowed the Qualified Offer to cover the down payment, closing costs and mortgage payments for the purchase of a lead safe residence!
HE 1163- Environment- Lead Poisoning The Lead Commission requested this bill which gives the MDE the flexibility in the area of fines (lower), allows for an amnesty program, requires that there be no peeling, chipping or flaking paint when lead dust wipes are used to achieve full risk reduction requirements. This has passed the second reading in the House.
HE 1215 -Landlord & Tenant -Rent Escrow Law Passed by the House this bill makes it clear that as a condition of creating a rent escrow that the tenant may not have 3 prior judgments of possession for rent due and unpaid in the immediate prior 12 mths. HE 1253 -Real Property -Residential Leases This bill was withdrawn, but would have required a 60 notice for rent increases.

This partial listing gives you some idea as to what is going on, however it is a very short summary and many bills have not been mentioned due to space requirements. Please refer to the Maryland General Assembly web site for more details.

Leases and other Documents

The Leases and other forms have been upgraded to reflect Law changes made in recent years and are available now.

ALOC has available leases, rental applications and tenant checklists for sale, at cost, to members. The cost for each item is as follows:
Lease @ $ 0.25 Rental Application @ $ 0.20 Move in Checklist @ $ 0.20 Lead Paint Brochures, both EPA and Maryland @ $ 1.50 for the pair.
Document Receipt for MDE and EPA brochures (disclosure) @ $ 0.15

These forms are kept at Jeff Hutter's office, TWR Comm. at 117-119 Valley Street. Any paid member can stop by and pick up whatever they need, however we ask that you call first with your order so that the forms can be ready and waiting for you.

Please call at least 24 hours in advance as these are made to order.
When you call 777-2692 ext 113, you can talk to Pam, Stacy or Gary
Please note: We do not keep MDE or City Housing registration forms on hand.

ALOC Officers

J. Jeffrey Hutter President

Rose Selby Vice President

Stephanie Wharton Secretary

J. Jeffrey Hutter Treasurer

Board of Directors

Ed Hedrick
Milt Sarver
Clarence Anderson