Maryland's Tenant Mold Protection Act gives landlords firm deadlines to respond to mold, but those deadlines do not begin with a phone call. The law, now codified at Real Property Article Section 8-220 of the Maryland Code, ties the landlord's duty to a written notice regarding the detection of mold. This article explains who can give that notice, what it should say, and how to prove the landlord received it.
Section 8-220(c) names two sources of notice. The first is a tenant or other building occupant, so the law does not limit notice to the person who signed the lease. The second is the local agency that enforces housing and livability codes, such as a county or city housing inspector. Either kind of written notice starts the landlord's 15-day period to perform a mold assessment.
An inspector's notice carries special weight. It comes from a public official, it records what the official saw, and it bears a date. A tenant who calls the local housing code office and obtains an inspection therefore gains an independent record of the conditions as well as a second route to the Act's deadlines. Keep a copy of any notice or citation the inspector issues.
The statute prescribes no form, so a clear, dated writing serves best. State your name, the address and unit number, and the date. Describe what you see and smell and where, such as stains, visible growth, leaks, condensation, swollen baseboards, or a musty odor. Note when you first noticed each condition, and ask the landlord to perform the mold assessment that the Act requires.
Attach photographs if you can, and keep the originals with their dates. Describe any water source you know of, such as a roof leak, a dripping pipe, or an air conditioning unit that sweats. Stick to facts you observed rather than guesses about the type of mold. The assessment exists to answer that question, and a factual notice leaves the landlord no room to claim confusion about what you reported.
The 15 days run from the landlord's receipt of the notice, so proof of delivery matters. An e-mail to the address the landlord uses for tenant business, a message through the landlord's online portal, or a letter sent by certified mail all leave a record. Save a screenshot of any portal submission that shows the date and time, because portals sometimes remove old requests.
If the landlord replies, schedules an inspection, or sends a maintenance worker, write down the date and what happened. Follow up in writing when 15 days pass without an assessment, and again if the assessment finds mold and the 45-day remediation period runs out. Each follow-up adds to a dated record of what the landlord knew and when the landlord knew it.
A written notice does more than start the Act's deadlines. In a claim for mold injury, the tenant must usually show that the landlord knew or should have known of the condition. A dated notice answers that question directly, and the landlord's response, or silence, shows what the landlord did with the information. You can read about the deadlines themselves in our article on the Tenant Mold Protection Act.
If you gave written notice and your landlord missed the deadlines, or if mold has affected your health and you are weighing a mold injury claim, e-mail chris@attorneybeard.com or call (410) 267-0227.
