Military service members moving into the region may not be aware of their right to break rental agreements if they are deployed, as some have turned down housing after being denied such protection, officials said.
“We?ve seen enough of these claims for us to take action,” said Kent Menser, Howard County?s Base Realignment and Closure coordinator.
“I?m sure there are a lot of Realtors, and military members, that are not aware of this code.”
Howard is teaming up with the Howard County Association of Realtors on a public awareness campaign to let military members and potential landlords know of their rights when renting houses, Menser said.
Those actively serving in the military are allowed to break rental or lease agreements with homeowners if they are deployed for three months or longer, according to the Maryland Real Property Code.
Military members, who often move around the country every few years, are only liable for 30 days? rent after notification of deployment and any property damage.
But some military families surveyed by the Howard BRAC task force were unaware of this law, and when they tried to have a clause guaranteeing that right in their lease agreements, the Realtor denied the request and the families had to look elsewhere, Menser said.
Fort Meade will see an influx because of BRAC, but only a handful of the 5,000 jobs are active-duty military personnel ? the majority are civilians.
Still,sections of Howard and Anne Arundel are consider part of the Washington metropolitan region, which has one of the highest concentrations of military personnel, officials said.
“There are families that come into this region, and maybe that person is assigned to the Pentagon and not through Fort Meade,” Menser said.
Ilene Kessler, past president of the Maryland Association of Realtors and a Realtor in Howard County, said the issue of the military clause hasn?t surfaced in her 20 years of real estate brokering.
But a public awareness campaign couldn?t hurt for property owners who may not know about the law, she said.
“Most experienced Realtors should know the law,” Kessler said.
The issue is not as prevalent for military planners in Anne Arundel, said Bob Leib, Anne Arundel?s BRAC coordinator.
But speaking from his experience as a retired Navy commander, Leib said, “We strove to have that in our lease. You can still break your lease due to deployment, no matter what, but it was a pain to do it” if it wasn?t in the lease.
Fort Meade notifies its enlisted service members about their rental rights when they seek legal help at the installation, said Jane Winand, chief of the legal assistance division at Fort Meade.
“We?ve had no recent problems with it, but even if they don?t put in a [military] clause, the law supersedes whatever the lease says,” she said.
