What renters and landlords need to know about Montgomery County's new air conditioning law

SILVER SPRING, Md. (ABC7) — As much of the DMV copes with a heat wave, Montgomery County officials are reminding renters of a new law designed to keep people safe when temperatures rise. As of June 1, landlords are required to provide and maintain air conditioning for all rental units in Montgomery County.

"It just went into effect June 1, and the Department of Housing and Community Affairs is doing an outreach campaign to make sure tenants know about their rights and landlords know about their responsibilities," said Montgomery County Council Member Tom Hucker. "It's a life and death issue. For decades, Montgomery County has required heat to be provided by landlords in the winter, for all 300,000 tenants in Montgomery County. But we realized air conditioning in the summer is just as important."

Hucker introduced the legislation in July of 2019. It was approved by the full council in February of 2020, but this is the first summer the new law is officially on the books. Hucker believes it will help save lives during this week's heat wave and in the months that follow.

The law requires that individual air conditioning units or a central air conditioning system be properly working and able to maintain an inside temperature of 80 degrees or less from June 1 through Sept. 30 each year.

"It's clearly a need. Nobody should be suffering without air conditioning in 2020," Hucker said

Of course, no one could have predicted 2020 would also bring about a global pandemic. So while the Montgomery County Renters Alliance supports the new air conditioning law, the organization's executive director says they're also worried the coronavirus could make it tough for property managers to be held accountable.

That's because coronavirus restrictions and social distancing rules are keeping county staff from doing in-home inspections for code violations.

"Code enforcement is not going out on routine inspections like they would before, for the obvious reason of not wanting to spread this virus and being very careful about that," said Matt Losak with the Montgomery County Renters Alliance. "The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for inspections to take place. So enforcement is kind of difficult. We are relying on property managers and landlords to act in good faith, to act responsibly, and to do the right thing for their tenants. And then hopefully they won't be hearing from the Renters Alliance."

Seven On Your Side asked Hucker how the county is addressing that concern.

"What they are doing is getting on the phone with residents right away. Staff are asking for details, doing an interview on the phone," Hucker said. "They're asking for photos and video of broken air conditioning units and photos of the thermostat to show evidence of how hot it is. Then they're talking to the landlord, and hopefully can do an intervention all remotely."

The CDC estimates that about 600 Americans die from extreme heat each year.

So what should a Montgomery County renter do if their air conditioning goes out? First, notify your landlord right away.

"Contact property management and say something is broken. Something needs to be fixed," said Losak. "If they've done that in good faith and the property management hasn't responded in good faith, then they should call code enforcement in Montgomery County by dialing 311, and ask to speak to a code inspector for housing."

Hucker encouraged tenants to also reach out to his office or the county's Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

"The important thing is that everyone knows there's a new law in place, and tenants have new rights they didn't have before June 1," said Hucker.

You can read more about the specifics of the new air conditioning law here. If a landlord does not comply, tenants may file a complaint with the Department of Housing and Community Affairs and the landlord may face a fine of $500.

Click here for federal resources that may help families who are worried about the cost of cooling their homes during the hot summer months.