Rockville City Council Meeting - July 6, 2026: Adoption of Landlord-Tenant Code Amendments

The Rockville City Council convened on July 6, 2026, to adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 18 of the Rockville City Code regarding rental facilities and landlord-tenant relations. The meeting featured public comments from renters and community members, followed by extensive council discussion and a series of amendments prior to adoption. The ordinance will take effect January 1, 2027.

Consent Calendar

• Jim Mullinax was appointed to the Board of Supervisors of Elections to serve a four-year term until June 1, 2030, by unanimous vote.
• The City Manager had no report; the Mayor thanked staff for Independence Day festivities at King Farm Mattie Stepanek Park.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Wendy Murphy (Rockville Renters United): Shared personal financial struggles and urged the council to pass rent stabilization and multi-year lease terms. Noted that Montgomery County has rent stabilization while Rockville does not, leading to displacement.
• Grant Sams (President of Reed Tenant Association, Chair of Rockville Renters United): Thanked staff for engagement but criticized the removal of two-year leases as standard, the removal of landlord reporting requirements for rent increases, and the lack of rent stabilization. Stated that evictions in Rockville rose 4% while in Montgomery County (with rent stabilization) they fell 7%.
• Libby Adams (Rockville resident): Described unresolved toxic black mold issues in her unit at Fields of Rockville, alleging city departments (landlord-tenant and code enforcement) failed to investigate or respond. She stated that professional testing showed mold still present, but the city refused to find violations.
• Chris Madden (Co-chair of Rockville Renters United, new landlord in Twinbrook): Supported fee transparency and banning junk fees but opposed elimination of reporting requirements and the lack of rent stabilization. Noted that without caps, two-year leases offer little protection and that rent stabilization has proven effective in the county.
• Brad O. (Rockville resident): Opposed eliminating the reporting requirement for landlords, calling it a needed mechanism to understand rent trends. Supported rent stabilization, arguing that the objection that developers will not build is not borne out by evidence.

Discussion Items

• Staff Presentation (Jane Lyons-Rader, Trevor Stevens): Provided an overview of the proposed changes to Chapter 18, including restrictions on eviction history inquiries, algorithmic rent pricing, new requirements for fee transparency, relocation assistance, and enhanced inspections. Noted that the city will collect rent data through the rental license renewal process rather than requiring separate notices of rent increases. The economic impact was assessed as neutral, with potential benefits from housing stability and transparency.
• Councilmember Questions & Deliberations:
  • Reporting requirements: Councilmembers discussed the shift from requiring landlords to notify the city of each rent increase (not enforced due to capacity) to collecting data during license renewal. Councilmember Valeri expressed concern about data gaps from two-year license cycles for some properties. Councilmember Shaw opposed removing the requirement for landlords to report rent increases at the time of the increase, calling it a key protection.
  • Rent stabilization: Multiple councilmembers noted that rent stabilization was the top request from tenants but was not included in the proposed code. The majority of the council had previously blocked further research on rent stabilization.
  • Two-year leases: The ordinance allows landlords to increase rents during a two-year lease if disclosed upfront. Councilmember Shaw pointed out that without rent caps, two-year leases may be offered with unaffordable increases.
  • Algorithmic pricing ban: The council supported the ban, making Rockville the first municipality in Maryland to do so. Councilmember Van Grack proposed removing a phrase limiting the prohibition to reports published "not more than once a month" to strengthen the language; staff requested additional time to research, and the amendment was deferred.
  • Small landlord concerns: Councilmember Valeri raised the administrative burden on small landlords and suggested exceptions for relocation assistance, particularly for nonprofits providing below-market housing for disabled individuals.
  • Enhanced inspections list: The Mayor and Councilmember Valeri advocated for publicly posting the list of properties in the enhanced inspection program. The City Manager agreed to bring options for a published list in early winter.
  • Equity analysis: Councilmember Shaw questioned the statement that the code would have a "small positive impact" on equity, noting that the algorithmic pricing ban may disproportionately benefit tenants in newer, larger buildings that are less accessible to Black renters.
• Amendments Proposed During Break: Staff incorporated five amendments based on council input.

Key Outcomes

• Adoption of Ordinance: The Council voted unanimously to adopt the ordinance with an effective date of January 1, 2027, incorporating the following amendments:
  1. Section 18-195D: The Director of Housing and Community Development shall provide an annual report to the City Manager summarizing information from landlord reports, with certain data made available online.
  2. Section 18-195B3: Added "gym or fitness facility" to the list of amenities that landlords must report availability of.
  3. Section 18-195A10: Expanded mandatory data collection for individual units to include any offers of rent increases (whether accepted or not), any rental increases between license renewals, and any evictions that have occurred.
  4. Section 18-180D: Landlords must disclose to prospective tenants, prior to lease signing, the previous three years of rent increases for the dwelling unit and lease term lengths, as well as average year-over-year rent increases for all dwelling units in the rental facility.
  5. Section 18-149A: Changed the deadline for a landlord to provide a tenant's rental payment history from 7 to 14 business days after a written request.
• Deferred Action: The amendment to remove the "published not more than once a month" language from the algorithmic pricing ban was deferred for further staff research, with the understanding that it may be revisited later.
• No Rent Stabilization: The adopted ordinance does not include rent stabilization, a measure that was the primary request from public commenters and several councilmembers. The council did not vote on rent stabilization during this meeting.
• Next Steps: Staff will work on implementation, including a public portal for rent data, educational materials, and a future work session on cooling requirements (September 2026) and the enhanced inspection program (early winter 2026).