Baltimore County Rental Licenses
We receive numerous questions regarding Baltimore County Rental Licensing and many new landlords maybe unfamiliar with the rental laws so we wanted to make ourselves available to answer your questions.
Maryland requires all rental properties constructed prior to 1950 to have at a minimum a lead dust wipe inspection and in 2015 the law changes to include all property built before 1979. The law requires lead contaminated dust testing (with no chipping, peeling, flaking paint) as the only Risk Reduction Standard prior to first occupancy of an affected property (including pre-1950 residential rental units) and at change in occupancy.
Baltimore County requires a licensed home inspector to inspect the property for safety and health hazards. This is a brief inspection not like a 4 hour home inspection and what we find most are incorrect outlets, at the kitchen and bathrooms, and improper smoke detectors.
Smoke detectors must be hardwired (attached to house current with a battery backup) and interconnected (sound off together). To save some money the interconnected part maybe wireless, no need to run a wire to connect the smoke detectors together.
We hope to answer your questions collectively through this blog and keep you posted on changes or updates to the laws. Rental inspections run $85.00 and Lead Inspections $200.00 flat rate. Discounts may apply. Email us mailto:news@macarres.com
Buck Harmon
10:51 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
The real problem that caused high levels of lead was originally created by lead in gasoline. Lead from gasoline emissions was a big part of the "city dirt that accumulated on the entire facades of city buildings and homes....when lead was removed from gasoline,(and paint at about the same time)the micro fine lead in emissions was minimized. As roads were overlayed with new asphalt most of the lead emission residuals were encapsulated and therby not really an issue for a while. Problem is that as these old roads are being revitalized...the milling process places massive amounts of dust back into the air and onto the building facades.
Buck Harmon
11:00 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
The state by it's own milling process dumps large amounts of old road dust everywhere throughout the city and towns. this dust contains lead from past auto emissions.
The State has no laws on the books that can be enforced to protect citizens from this very prevalent source of lead contamination and therefore focus on lead in paint as the primary issue related to the problem. Non of the protection laws are applied to roadway contractors, but rather focus on rental property owners and contractors.
The State is the largest violator of lead contamination that could have a negative impact on it's citizens but chooses to ignore this very real existing condition with regard to the road milling processes.
Buck Harmon
11:03 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
MA CArES..? ? I've just provided the missing piece to the lead poison problem...let's see where it goes...
Buck Harmon
11:12 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
The lead test inspection process is also a scam that gives inspectors the ability to fail a property upon arrival if any questionable condition exists, without continuing the entire inspection. They get paid for failing the property and then get paid again for each re inspection. I know of three senior citizens that rely on a rental property income to make ends meet that were forced to pay three times for the same inspection that was NEVER completely finished...they had to pay up front before the process continued. Too many loop hole opportunities for scam type inspectors to profit from.
Chris Barcikowski
11:39 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
Thanks Buck for the information. Unfortunately I can not speak for other companies in regards to the rental lead inspections. We advise our clients that law states no paint can be flaking peeling or chipping prior to our testing; however there are times spots are missed and we can not perform the testing, the property doesn't fail until 30 days after the initial visit if it has not been corrected. We don't charge for the re-inspection for either the Baltimore County Rental Inspection or the Maryland Lead Inspection simply because we don't want our clients to feel like we discovered something so we have to come back. Sorry your friends had different experiences.
MA CArRES = Mid Atlantic Commercial and Residential Real Estate Solutions Inc.