‘Good cause’ eviction bill in Maryland gets preliminary OK, with GOP tweaks, but future uncertain – WTOP News

This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.

“Good Cause Evictions” legislation, to protect tenants from being kicked out of their housing without justification, continued its comeback tour Friday, as delegates debated for around 90 minutes on a bill that was as good as dead earlier this week.

The lengthy debate was productive, as the House accepted two Republican amendments to the bill, one of which adds another “good cause” for why a landlord can decide against renewing a lease with a tenant. The other exempts short-term rentals from the legislation.

The House rejected nine Republican amendments that would have made the bill more friendly to landlords at the expense of renter protections.

The bill is expected to get final House approval early next week before it gets sent to the Senate, which is where similar legislation has struggled for several years.

House Bill 774, sponsored by Del. Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery), is the most recent version of legislation also known as “just cause evictions.” The measures let local jurisdictions require landlords who want to cancel a lease to inform tenants of the reason, choosing from a specified list outlined in the bill.

Those reasons could include not paying rent, engaging in disorderly conduct or breaching the lease agreement, among other issues.

Del. Chris Tomlinson (R-Frederick and Carroll) offered an amendment to add include situations where someone’s rental is dependent on employment on the “good cause” list.

“It’s not uncommon for landlords to employ a property manager, resident manager or maintenance worker, and often times that employment comes with employment-based housing,” Tomlinson said. “So I think it’s more than reasonable to just say that if the job comes to an end, there’s no reason that the landlord should be expected to automatically renew their lease.”

Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery), who was leading floor discussion on the bill, accepted it as a friendly amendment — a rare but not unknown case for Republican amendments in the Democrat-controlleed House.

Charkoudian also accepted as friendly Del. Steven J. Arentz’s (R-Upper Shore) amendment to exclude short-term rentals from the bill, noting that it was silent on companies like Vrbo or Airbnb.

But that’s where the friendly amendments ended. Efforts to require tenants to pay attorneys’ fees if they lose a court case involving a good cause claim, and to exempt landlords who are active military from the bill were among several shot down.

Charkoudian said that the point of the legislation was to protect families from unjustified evictions, so weakening those protections would go against the point of the bill

“This is enabling legislation. So, if we pass this law, each individual county would have to choose to enable this locally,” Charkoudian said. “What this bill is about is it is about creating stability in our communities…. The goal of this bill is to make sure that if a family is going to be moved out of their home, there’s got to be a good reason.”

After the debate, the House gave preliminary approval to the bill amended bill and sent it for a final vote, likely early next week. But House Minority Leader Jason C. Buckel (R-Allegany) said Republicans are still going to fiercely oppose the issue when it comes up for a final vote.

“It’s a strange bill,” Buckel said after the evening floor session. “It’s a bill that’s got a lot of opposition. It’s a bill that was the result of a sort of different committee process.”

The legislation was revived this week after the Economic Matters committee originally voted down on it Monday.

When Economic Matters Chair Kriselda Valderrama (D-Prince George’s) called for a favorable vote on HB 774 Monday, it did not pass — just nine of the 20 delegates on the committee voted for it. Seven voted no, one abstained and three were absent.

On Wednesday, Del. Veronica Turner (D-Prince George’s), who opposed the legislation Monday, called to reconsider the bill. She voted with 10 others for it, two voted no, one was excused and six were absent, including several Republicans who walked out during discussion on the bill.

“It was brought back, and people changed their minds miraculously in a 36-hour period,” Buckel said.

The favorable vote Wednesday allowed it to come to the floor Friday for consideration by the full House, where many expect the bill will pass.

The House passed similar legislation in 2024, approving the bill in a 96-7, but that bill died in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Last year, Judicial Proceedings took the lead but tried to amend the bill to make local jurisdictions pick between rent-control measures or good cause evictions, trying to find a middle ground between developers and renters. But advocates pulled support for the amended measure, and the bill died in committee again.

Even if the House passes HB 774, it’s likely to face similar hurdles in the Senate, especially with a little more than a week left in the 2026 legislative session.

“I would surmise that the bill doesn’t have a lot of chances for success in the Senate,” Buckel said.