Maryland’s Eviction Moratorium Faces Imminent End

Maryland landlords no longer face enhanced barriers to evicting tenants who fail to pay rent. On August 25, 2021, Maryland’s Governor rescinded his earlier order, which preventing Maryland courts from physically reclaiming rental units on behalf of landlords. A day later, the United States Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision to overturn the eviction moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With CARES Act restrictions on filing failure to pay rent cases now long expired (having held effect between late May and late August 2020), county-level moratoria on rent increases are the last COVID-related government measures impeding landlords’ from exercising their rights under the law. Currently in effect in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Howard, Frederick, and Prince George’s County, county-level limits on rent increases are set to expire in the coming months. Once landlords’ property rights are restored, they will no longer be left to assume a dramatically outsized portion of financial labilities in the real estate rental market.