Baltimore City Renters May Get "Foreclosure Help"

No, I did not make a typo in the title. More and more Baltimore City, Maryland residents are finding themselves out on the street with no advance notice because their landlord has not paid the mortgage on their rental unit. In fact, unless the landlord divulges to the tenant that they are in foreclosure, or the future listing agent comes by to do an occupancy check, few renters know they are facing homelessness until the day of the scheduled eviction. Talk about a shock!

A new bill has advanced in the Baltimore City Council, at the request of Mayor Sheila Dixon to help these renters. The bill is expected to be passed this year.

Under the new law, tenants would have to be notified by first class and certified mail at least two weeks prior to the actual eviction. A notice will also have to be posted on the property at least a week before the foreclosure related eviction. Finally, rather than moving the tenants possessions to the curb, the lender will now have to pay for them to be sent to a landfill, donate it to charity or arrange for the tenant to collect it.

If the lenders crews curb the tenants possessions, they will face fines of up to $1,000 per day for the illegal dumping of foreclosure chattels. This law would follow one passed last year that made it illegal for landlords to curb possessions. Since passage, the Department of Public Works has gone from collecting the items from an average of 600 rental evictions per month to just 12 since passage.

The bill was introduced because of shocking foreclosure numbers (for Baltimore City being so small, that is). Last year, there were more than 4,000 foreclosure filings in Baltimore City. This year, that number is expected to increase to 6,000. In those numbers, there are many tenants who have paid their rent to their landlord.

I support this bill. Evictions are typically scheduled for the morning, when many may be at work. Once the eviction is served, everything goes out onto the curb, to be picked through by passerby. With no advance notice under current law, one may very well come home to find their remaining possessions on the curb, with anything that was worth anything already picked through and removed.