Presently, a condominium’s board of directors may meet in closed session for the following purposes:  (1) Discussion of matters pertaining to employees and personnel; (2) protection of privacy or reputation of individuals in matters not related to the council of unit owners’ business; (3) consultation with legal counsel on legal matters; (4) consultation with staff personnel, consultants, attorneys, board members, or other persons in connection with pending or potential litigation or other legal matters; (5) investigative proceedings concerning possible or actual criminal misconduct; (6) complying with a specific constitutional, statutory, or judicially imposed requirement protecting particular proceedings or matters from public disclosure; or (7) discussion of individual owner assessment accounts.

Both the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates passed similar bills, but the House version had included cooperative housing corporations within the scope of the legislation.  The bills were reconciled in committee, with cooperatives being eliminated in accordance with the Senate version.  Late amendments added “reasonable costs,” and provided that costs and fees not exceed the amount of the principal amount of the unpaid assessment.  The legislation expressly provides that these provisions do not preclude the use of other means to enforce a lien other than foreclosure.  Accordingly, suits for money judgments can still be pursued.  The Governor signed the bill on May 16, 2013, and it will become effective on October 1, 2013.  The law expressly provides that it is “to apply only prospectively and may not be applied or interpreted to have any effect on or application to any lien filed before the effective date.”

Both the Senate and House of Delegates had previously passed similar bills, but the House version had included cooperative housing corporations within the scope of the legislation.  The bills were reconciled in committee, with cooperatives being eliminated in accordance with the Senate version.  Late amendments added “reasonable costs,” and provided that costs and fees not exceed the amount of the principal amount of the unpaid assessment.  The legislation expressly provides that these provisions do not preclude the use of other means to enforce a lien other than foreclosure.  Accordingly, suits for money judgments can still be pursued.

The legislation is in reaction to circumstances in which attorney’s fees amount to substantial portion of the amount clauimed to be owing and forming the basis for monetary judgment actions and the imposition of liens.  Both Bills would add new Section 11-110 to the Maryland Condominium Act and new Section 117.1 to the Maryland Homeowners Association Act, and create a rebuttable presumption that attorney’s fees claimed are reasonable which could be challenged by a homeowner.  In any action in which all or substantially all of the claimed amount is attorney’s fees, the Maryland Contract Lien Act would not apply.  In other words, there would be no right to obtain a lien in the absence of first obtaining a money judment.

            April, in these parts, is irresistibly transformative.  Vibrant life and color rise up and relentlessly overwhelm a drab winter’s landscape, inspiring notions in the human heart of renewal and redemption.  And with it comes another baseball season, and all its manifestations of new beginnings and the grand possibilities that await in the lush green days ahead.

            So it was supposed to be 45 years ago.  1968 had dawned with the stunning reports of the Tet Offensive, a sobering reality that stretched deep into March, concluding with a sitting president declining to seek re-election, and bringing to us a reluctant familiarity with places called Khe Sanh, Hue, Lang Vei  and My Lai.  Our weariness longed for April’s explosion of daffodils, bright green leaves, and baseball.

            But the traditional month of promise had hardly begun when news arrived that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated while standing on the balcony of Memphis hotel.  It was a dagger to the heart of the struggle for equality and justice, and our city erupted in an explosion of long accumulated frustration.  We suddenly found ourselves in a warzone of riots and fire bombings that played out against the imposition of a general curfew enforced by uniformed soldiers, leaving us gripped by varying degrees of fear, anger and disbelief.  Many businesses and neighborhoods would never be the same.

            When it was mostly over, we ventured out cautiously and curiously past the smoldering ruble of mangled storefronts, which stood in stark contrast to the spring weather and peaceful calm of Holy Week and spring break.  The Orioles opened play at Memorial Stadium almost immediately after the decrease in violence with a victory over the Oakland As, a win tempered by the palpable discomfort we now felt as we passed along our own streets.

            Only a few short weeks later, with the riot fires fresh in our minds, Senator Robert Kennedy was also felled by an assassin’s bullet, his calls for social justice an end to poverty seemingly having also taken the blow the left him lying on a hotel floor. As we moved toward summer, it was as though madness had become the rule of the day.

            It is somehow fitting that, amidst all this turmoil and uncertainty, a figure should appear on the local stage who would profoundly impact this community’s self-image and confidence.  During the All Star break, the Orioles fired manager Hank Bauer, and replaced him with a relatively unknown coach named Earl Weaver.  The franchise that had astonished the baseball world by sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 1966 World Series had staggered through 1967 to finish nine games under .500.  The team that began play in those troubling days of 1968 had been frustratingly inconsistent.  By mid-season, they were over .500, but ten-and-a-half games out of first place.

Enter Earl Weaver, the diminutive firebrand who had spent 19 years as a minor league player or manager before reaching the major league coaching staff with a pronounced chip on his shoulder.  He could be unapologetically antagonistic, bellicose and profane, but, above all, he was supremely confident in his abilities, obsessively rigorous in his dedication to fundamentals, and unwaveringly passionate about the game and his players.  He was a superb match for the town that would come to embrace him.

The record is an undeniably amazing one.  That ‘68 team won 91 games and finished in second place.  During the following 15 seasons, Mr. Weaver’s teams finished first or second 13 more times.  They won 90 games 11 more times, and 100 games 5 times, securing 7 division championships, 5 pennants and a World Series.  He had talented players, but he made them better.  In fact, he used the entire roster in a way that maximized every player’s ability to contribute to a winning team.  Consoling and criticizing as necessary, he motivated them to become greater than the sum of their parts.

The new Section would preclude provisions that (1) shorten the statute of limitations applicable to any claim; (2) waive application of “the discovery rule” as to when claims accrue; (3) operated to prevent the filing of a claim within the applicable period of limitations or (4) require that that claims be submitted to arbitration within a time shorter than the applicable statute of limitations.  Additionally, any provision requiring the council of unit owners to obtain a vote of unit owners, the approval of the developer, or the approval of any non-unit owners as a precondition to the institution of a claim would be unenforceable unless adopted by the council of unit owners after the unit owners other than the developer obtain control of a majority of the board of directors.

Similar legislation is pending in the House of Delegates as HB 1141.

Under the bill, within 180 days after the election of  a majority of the board or governing body that is unaffiliated with the developer, such contracts previously entered into by the developer could be terminated on 30 days notice to the contractor.  Under current law, only developer contracts for utility services and communications systems may be terminated, but there is no limit on when that action must be taken by the independent governing body.  The legislation will now go to the House of Delegates.

Under Section 11-110(d) of the Maryland Condominium Act, payments of assessments, along with interest, late charges and attorney’s fees, may be enforced by the council of unit owners against a delinquent unit owner by the imposition of a lien on the unit under the provisions of the Maryland Contract Lien Act.  It further provides that a suit for a money judgment may also be maintained by the Council.  The Maryland Contract Lien Act provides for the imposition of a lien on property as the result of a breach of contract.  In the context of a condominium, the contract at issue is the obligation of each unit owner to pay their allocated share of the common expenses.  Such a lien may be foreclosed in the same manner as mortgages or deeds of trust.  Under the current provisions of Section 14-204(b) of the Maryland Contract Lien Act, “suit for any deficiency following foreclosure may be maintained in the same proceeding,” meaning in the foreclosure proceeding; “and suit for monetary damages may be maintained without waiving any lien securing the same,” meaning that a separate suit for damage does not preclude commencement of a foreclosure proceeding.  However, it has been unclear whether a suit for monetary damages may include costs and attorney’s fees that would be permissible in a foreclosure proceeding.  Moreover, it was unclear whether a suit for monetary damage can be brought after foreclosure.

The legislation deletes the above quoted language from Section 14-204(b) of the Maryland Contract Lien Act, and adds  new language stating that the party entitled to enforce the lien “may bring suit for a monetary judgment for the lien amount, plus costs and attorney’s fees, without foreclosing on the property subject to the lien.”  It further would provide that, if the lien has been foreclosed, the person entitled to enforce the lien may “maintain a suit in the foreclosure proceeding for a monetary judgment for any deficiency amount, plus costs and attorney’s fees,” or may “bring a separate suit for a monetary judgment for an deficiency amount, plus costs and attorney’s fees.”  Accordingly, the bill  makes clear that a suit for money damages for unpaid assessments, along with costs and fees,  can be brought regardless of whether a foreclosure proceeding has been instituted or completed; and, in the event of foreclosure, such a suit can be maintained for any deficiency after foreclosure either in the foreclosure action or as a separate suit.

Cooperatives were originally included in the House bill, but were deleted in the final version.  Both versions add new provisions to Section 14-204 of the Maryland Contract Lien Act that would prevent lien foreclosures based on amounts due for fines imposed by the association, along with any attorney’s fees related to recovering the fines.  The House version also expressly provides that foreclosures based on delinquent assessments may include related costs and attorney’s fees.  The two bills will now have to be reconciled in conference committee.

It proposes the creation of a nine-member “State Board of Common Ownership Community Managers” in the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.  A license from the Board would be required in order to provide property management services to a common ownership community.  Applicants would be required to complete a training program and pass an examination.  Licenses would be renewable every two years.  The Board would have the power to deny, suspend or revoke licenses for various wrongful acts, and impose monetary penalties for misconduct.  Licensees would be required to to provide a fidelity bond or other insurance in the lesser amount of $2,000,000 or the aggregate amount of operating reserve balances of all communities that they manage.  There is also provision for a  limited license could be issued to persons providing management services under the supervision of a licensed manager.

The bill would require  all condominiums,  cooperatives and  homeowners associations to annually register with the Board and identify any licensed community manager.  A prior version of the bill had proposed to limit the registration requirement to larger communities, but that limitation was deleted from the final version.

A resident of a community who provides property management services without compensation would be exempt from the licensing and regulatory requirements.  Similar legislation is being considered in in the Maryland Senate as SB 794.