Illegal Lock-outs and Failure to provide essential services

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Working For Justice In Housing

Essential Services/Illegal Lock-Out

A tenant may come home to his apartment to find that the landlord has changed the locks or cut off an essential service such as gas, heat, water, electricity, etc. to which the tenant is entitled. Such action usually follows a tenant being behind in rent, staying after the day the tenant was to vacate the apartment, or is simply the result of an argument between the tenant and landlord. Sometimes it is the result of the landlord’s failure to pay a utility bill he is responsible for under the terms of the lease.

Maryland state law prohibits the landlord from taking possession of the premises or tenant’s property without legal process. Should a lockout occur, the tenant has the right to hire a locksmith, change the locks, re-enter the premises, and hold the landlord responsible for the cost involved. Landlords can not legally cut off or diminish essential services such as gas, electricity, water, heat, etc., to which tenant is entitled.

Although the landlord’s failure to provide an essential service does not give tenant the right to stop payment of rent, it may make tenant eligible for rent escrow relief (see rent escrow law) and in Baltimore City, for relief under the warranty of habitability. In addition, a landlord who locks out a tenant or reduces essential services can be sued for a breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment by the tenant. The tenant would be able to ask for damages including, but not limited to lost or damaged property, cost of a motel and food, storage fees and reasonable attorney’s fees. A tenant who is denied ingress may also sue the landlord for similar damages for constructive eviction. The landlord could also be held liable for the difference the tenant must pay for rent in a new property.

In Baltimore City, any person who, in an attempt to deprive tenant of the protection of the laws relating to continuation or termination of tenancies, makes false representations about tenant’s rights or willfully prevents tenant from entering or leaving his dwelling or without the consent of the tenant, diminishes essential services to the tenant, such as the providing of gas, electricity, water, heat, light, furniture, furnishings, or similar services, to which under the expressed or implied terms of the tenancy the tenant may be entitled, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $500 and imprisonment of not more than ten (10) days, or both, in the discretion of the court, for each and every offense (Public Local Laws of Baltimore City, Sec. 9-15). The tenant can file a complaint with the Court Commissioner at 5800 Wabash Avenue, Baltimore, MD (410-752-8398).

In addition, Baltimore County Code, Title 18 - Housing, Sections 18-1 and 18-2 provides that a landlord may not reduce or withhold essential services such as means of ingress or egress, gas, electricity, water, heat, light, furniture, furnishings, or similar services to which tenant may be entitled under the express or implied terms of the tenancy. A violation of this law is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine of not more than $100. The tenant may file a complaint with the Livability Enforcement Office at 111 W. Chesapeake Avenue, Towson, MD (410-887-4032). The tenant may also go to any of the court commissioners in the county to have the landlord charged with a criminal violation of the code.

The tenant or landlord can also call BNI for advice.

The basic principle is that a landlord can not take the law into his own hands. If the tenant owes rent or has not vacated the premises when he should have, the landlord’s remedy is to take the tenant to court.

Legally Reviewed - BNI. Last Update - March 2001