Legislation to prevent Baltimore-area residents from losing their homes because they have failed to pay small amounts of ground rent continued to advance in the General Assembly, with broad support from legislators.
Representatives of Realtors, bankers and title firms also said they could support the most important of the bills, with some changes.
The legislature has already passed emergency measures to stop the forming of new ground rents, but there are least 115,000 households in Baltimore City that must pay the ground rents, and more in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties.
Sen. Lisa Gladden, the lead sponsor, said the bill sets up more stringent requirements about notice. Its most important provision allows the holder of a ground rent to put a lien on the house, but not to take the house, she said.
Lobbyists for the Realtors and bankers said they could support the bill if the holders of ground rents are put first in line in collecting liens from the homeowner. Robert Enten, representing the Maryland bankers, said a dozen of them had been collecting rent on the ground under houses for more than 100 years because they were safe investments. He said those banks were not preying on homeowners.
“The key to this legislation is that they have adequate notice and no one gets a windfall,” Enten said.
