Montgomery County

Real Advocacy: Will MoCo Mandate New Home Solar Panels?  

The Montgomery County Council is moving forward on a bill that would further burden buyers and sellers during the sale of a new home.

The bill, as introduced by Councilmember Marc Elrich, would require a seller to provide information on solar energy usage and when the solar array would become profitable to the buyer. More distressing, the bill would give the buyer the right to request solar panels to be installed on the home. Though the price would be factored into the sale, this option would delay home sales and could cause issues with mortgage applications.

GCAAR has publicly testified against this bill and will continue to advocate against it moving further through the legislative process.

Have comments? Send them to [email protected] . We will make sure your voice is heard!
MoCo Short-Term Rental Regulations Now in Effect

Last fall, the Montgomery County Council approved legislation and zoning changes to allow and regulate Airbnb-style short-term rentals in the county. The law directed the Department of Health and Human Services to finalize the regulations for licensing the rentals and enforcing the regulations governing them. Over the past eight months, DHHS has crafted those regulations and licensing procedures.

On July 1, 2018, those regulations went into effect.

You can find the County's information on these regulations here . To learn more about the process, feel free to read this article from Bethesda Beat ,  or check out the GCAAR-prepared short-term rental information sheet .
Carbon Monoxide Requirement Introduced
at MoCo Council

The Montgomery County Council has introduced a bill to require the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in single-family homes.

GCAAR worked with the bill's lead sponsor, Councilmember Craig Rice, to ensure the requirement would not adversely impact our industry while keeping County residents safe.

This would allow a delay before it goes into effect to give the County the opportunity to undertake an education campaign to encourage residents to install these important safety features.

You can read the legislation here .

District of Columbia
Money Restored to Real Estate Guaranty Fund

DCAR has advocated extensively over the past few months for the DC Council to replenish the Real Estate Guaranty Fund, which had unfortunately been again swept in the proposed Fiscal Year 2019 Budget.

Thanks to the efforts of members like you, more than $1 million has been restored to the Real Estate Guaranty Fund. We also secured further protections against special assessments, providing a valuable safety net for real estate professionals, homeowners, buyers, and sellers.

This victory saves REALTORS® in and around the District hundreds of dollars in license fees.
Eviction Reform Coming

The DC Council recently passed a bill that would require landlords to move evicted tenants' property to a storage facility, with the goal being to simplify the eviction process.

A much-improved alternative proposal would allow the landlord to hold the property at the home for 48 hours instead. This would be a benefit to both property owners and tenants, and we're strongly in favor of the alternative proposal taking the place of the original.

Be on the lookout for an NAR Call For Action on this matter.