New Maryland bill to limit cost of condo resale package

Maryland law requires the seller to provide specific information pertaining to the resale of property within a Homeowner’s Association (HOA) or a property designated under a condominium regime.

Typically, this information is produced by the management for the HOA or condominium, and the HOA or condominium charges the seller a fee for the production and delivery of the information.

It is the belief of some Maryland legislators that the fees being charged are excessive and, as such, these legislators are seeking to limit the amount that may be charged.

Before the Maryland legislature are bills S229/HB412, which would limit the fee a condominium council of unit owners or HOA may charge an owner (seller) for providing this legally required information to a prospective homebuyer.

The current law calls for a “reasonable fee,” but it is left undefined so many organizations have simply been using the requirement as a way to profit – charging upwards of $400 to $500.

There’s currently a proposal to limit the fee to $50. Hearings on the legislation continue and we will keep you apprised of the final bill.

UPDATE: The Senate passed SB 229.  They amended HOA’s out of the bill, thus making it applicable only to Condo Associations; and they upped the fee that could be charged from $50 to $100.  The House Committee then amended the bill further, but the Senate committee refused to concur with those amendments and so the bill died when the clock ran out at midnight.