by Tom Schild

Despite the recent arctic air sweeping through Maryland, the 2015 Maryland legislative session is heating up.

After a slow start in January with many new legislators and a new Governor taking office, a rush of bills were introduced in February.  Among the bills concerning governance of Maryland condos, coops and HOAs are proposals to (1) prevent developers from limiting condominium statutory warranty rights; (2) require access to common areas for political candidates; and (3) require homeowner associations to provide resale disclosure information and cap the fee charged by condos and HOAs for providing resale disclosure information.

A proposal to change the housing cooperative law adopted in 2014 would eliminate a 3-month waiting period before a housing coop could initiate legal action to evict a coop member for not paying assessments.

Other legislation under review would restrict the ability to collect court judgments for delinquent assessments. Although not limited to condos, coops and HOAs, the bill would make it more difficult to obtain money in bank accounts and sell property to pay a person’s debts.

Legislation regarding licensing of community association managers (which had been considered the past several years) has not been introduced in 2015.

The 90-day legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly runs until April 13, 2015.