Frederick Maryland prohibits rent increases

[Wil Pace]

Frederick Maryland's Board of Aldermen passed legislation back in July that prohibits landlords from increasing rents or charging late fees until 180 days after Maryland's coronavirus state of emergency is lifted.  Thankfully, all of my tenants are more or less up to date on rent (more are paying late than usual, but I'm not complaining given the circumstances).  But I do have several units that are rented for well below market (most in a multifamily building I bought back in February). Some of the units are leased for 30% below market (all MTM). The inability to increase rents even modestly is frustrating to say the least as I'm pouring a lot of money into the building on capex projects and addressing long deferred maintenance items.

Can anyone recommend a good resource for legislative info/updates specific to the Frederick market?  I literally stumbled across the info by doing a basic Google search when I was preparing to draft my annual rent increase letters (thankfully I never sent them).  It would be great to have a single information source to rely on for stuff like this.  Also interested to hear how others are dealing with this.

Thanks.

[Tim Miller]

@Wil Pace check to see if there is a local Landlord Association. I know Hagerstown has a good one but I don't know about Frederick.