ALOC NEWS
| February 1 , 2001 | Associated
Landlords of the Cumberland Area ALOC Phone (301) 759-0530 P.O. Box 1867 |
Vol. 7, Issue 2 |
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MDE Contractor Forum The
MDE recently mailed out a notice to various property owner
groups as well as individual landlords, regarding a meeting
to be held on February 14,2001. This is a voluntary session
designed to update lead paint contractors on various items
including business opportunities. If you have MDE Renewal All members should have received their renewal forms from the MDE and they are due before the end of the year 2000. If you have not received your forms you should contact the MDE immediately to avoid fines for not registering! If by chance you have not registered your units with the MDE, please do not think that you can claim ignorance! ! The MDE can be contacted at 1-800-776-2706. Their website address is" http:/www.mde.state.md.us ". According to the latest statistics only 36 % of Allegany County rental units built before 1950 have been registered with the MDE. Lead Inspectors and Contractors You will note that we added a new advertiser to this newsletter and we ask that you patronize all of our advertisers, who are also members or soon to be members. Theses businesses help defray the cost of this monthly newsletter. Evictions
Don't
forget the MDE' s 50% rule takes effect on February 24th!
!
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Screening Tenants Part II Continuing from last month's newsletter it is now time to check references for those prospective tenants who appear to have sufficient income. This can include calling their present or past landlord as well as using the credit bureau to investigate further. One of the first calls you should make is to the prospective tenants past and or current landlord. You should ask questions about their rent payments, how the tenant maintained their apartment and did they create any problems. Please keep in mind that we all have varying standards and it pays to get details. With this infonnation you can determine if you want to continue investigating this prospect or drop them like a hot potato. A good credit check can prove to be most revealing. Our arrangements with CBC Companies allows us to easily and cheaply obtain such information. The credit report reveals a great deal about the prospect and their commitment to cover their obligations. We have seen many reports that contain line after line of unpaid debts and or late payments. You can bet that they will stiff you if they have the chance!! If
your prospect passes through these two checks you might have
a potentially good tenant, but keep in mind the following
caveats:
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Maryland Property
Owners Notes
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The Maryland Property Owners Network met in Annapolis on J anuary l7th to kickoff the 200 1 session of the General Assembly. Bill Russell from Frostburg and JeffHutter from ALOC were in attendance as well as others from the eastern shore, Frederick, Hagerstown, Elkton and Baltimore. The meeting started out with a discussion regarding the status of college dormitories and their inclusion in the lead paint program as well as local housing regulations. It seems reasonable to believe that these would be exempt from all regulations as they are government run and funded. The fact that they actively compete with the private market, who must pay all kinds of taxes and operate without the ability to draw funds from bloated government coffers, just doesn't seem to matter! The MDE has asked us about ways to make the program work better including cheaper training. While we all agreed with that concept it doesn't go far enough. Supervisor training should be reduced to one day and the refreshers courses should be cut in half and or replaced with a videotape plan. Considering that most Lead Paint Supervisors only take the training and get licenses to take car of their own rentals it seems prudent to streamline the program or set up a new class of Supervisor that only works on his own units. The possibility of charging tenants for lead paint inspections if they break the lease before the year is up was discussed. It was felt that if such language was added to the lease it might be possible to recoup theses costs but it is likely that many judges would disallow such a charges claiming that such inspections are a normal business expense. The possibility ofMaryland adopting a market share theory to hold lead paint and lead pigment manufacturers liable was considered but the group believes that any laws to make this happen don't stand much chance of passage. Various business groups would vigorously oppose such a law. While the market share theory would help the landlord it would also open the gate to a flurry of litigation that would virtually eliminate due process. Certainly such constitutional breaches would be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. |
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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: 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. |
ALOC
Officers
J. Jeffrey Hutter President Rose
Selby Vice President J. Jeffrey Hutter Treasurer Board of Directors Henry
Holzshu |
