What can I do to stop a 15% to 40% apartment rent increase?
<p>For the past 5 years a friend of mine has been living at an apartment complex in Maryland. They are approaching their 1-year lease. They were surprised to receive a letter of rent increase uploaded here. The letter says that the rent is going up 15% for a 1-year lease. And the ‘Voluntary Rent Guideline’ recommends an increase of .4%. The month-to-month lease increased 40%. The letter goes on to say, if you feel this is an excessive increase, you can contact the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Affairs. I went to the DHCA website and searched for - rent increase. It said, Montgomery County does not exercise rent control for rented residences. Landlords only must notify tenants of a rent increase greater than 0.4%. What choices does my friend have, will contacting Maryland Department of Housing and Community Affairs change anything?</p>
<p>Maryland Department of Housing and Community Affairs
<a href="https://www3.montgomerycountymd.gov/311/Solutions.aspx?SolutionId=1-TYH51" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www3.montgomerycountymd.gov/311/Solutions.aspx?SolutionId=1-TYH51</a></p>
<p>Voluntary Rent Guideline <a href="https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA/housing/landlordtenant/voluntary_rent_guideline.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA/housing/landlordtenant/voluntary_rent_guideline.html</a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/NNEE8.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/NNEE8.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

<p>Under <a href="https://apps.montgomerycountymd.gov/ccllims/DownloadFilePage?FileName=2721_1_17828_Bill_30-21E_Signed_20211109.pdf" rel="noreferrer">Montgomery County Bill 30-21</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>A landlord must not increase a tenant’s rent to an amount that exceeds
the voluntary rent guidelines under Section 29-53...</p>
</blockquote>
<p>but with the further provision that the increase would take effect &quot;during the emergency&quot;. &quot;The emergency&quot; refers to &quot;the catastrophic health emergency declared by the Governor of Maryland on March 5, 2020&quot; and renewed and amended at various times. But as you can see <a href="https://governor.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/End-of-State-of-Emergency.pdf" rel="noreferrer">here</a>, the state of emergency no longer exists, therefore this law is no longer in force, and the question of exceeding those guidelines is moot.</p>

rental-property tenant rent maryland