Maryland 2025 Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill SB606 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3		EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4		[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5		-	Underlining indicates amendments to bill.
6		-	Strike out indicates matter stricken from the bill by amendment or deleted from the law by
7		-	amendment.
8	5		sb0606
9	6
10	7		SENATE BILL 606
11	8		N1 5lr2237
12		-	CF ~~HB 872~~
	9	+	CF 5lr3253
13	10		By: Senator West
14	11		Introduced and read first time: January 23, 2025
15	12		Assigned to: Judicial Proceedings
16		-	Committee Report: Favorable
17		-	Senate action: Adopted
18		-	Read second time: February 22, 2025
19	13
20		-	~~CHAPTER ______~~
	14	+	A BILL ENTITLED
21	15
22	16		AN ACT concerning 1
23	17
24	18		Residential Real Property – Tenants’ Right of First Refusal 2
25	19
26	20		FOR the purpose of clarifying the circumstances under which liability for the failure to 3
27	21		comply with certain requirements relating to a tenant’s right of first refusal to 4
28	22		purchase a residential property is restricted to the owner of the property and does 5
29	23		not attach to the property; and generally relating to tenants’ right of first refusal to 6
30	24		purchase residential property. 7
31	25
32	26		BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 8
33	27		Article – Real Property 9
34	28		Section 8–119(d)(1) through (4) 10
35	29		Annotated Code of Maryland 11
36	30		(2023 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 12
37	31
38	32		BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 13
39	33		Article – Real Property 14
40	34		Section 8–119(h)(1) 15
41	35		Annotated Code of Maryland 16
42	36		(2023 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 17
43	37
44	38		SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 18
45	39		That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 19
46	40
47	41		Article – Real Property 20
48		-	2 SENATE BILL 606
49	42
	43	+	8–119. 21
50	44
51		-	8–119. 1
52		-
53		-	(d) (1) (i) Before a voluntary transfer of title to a residential rental 2
54		-	property may occur, any tenant or group of tenants of the property, as applicable, shall 3
55		-	have the right of first refusal to purchase the property in accordance with the requirements 4
56		-	of this subsection. 5
57		-
58		-	(ii) The right of a third party to purchase any residential rental 6
59		-	property to which the requirements of this section apply is subject to the exercise of the 7
60		-	right of first refusal by a tenant or group of tenants. 8
61		-
62		-	(2) A tenant has a right of first refusal to purchase residential rental 9
63		-	property if: 10
64		-
65		-	(i) The owner intends to accept an offer from a third party to 11
66		-	purchase the property for an amount that is at least 10% lower than the lowest price offered 12
67		-	to the tenant in any previous notice, offer, or counteroffer under subsection (c) of this 13
68		-	section; or 14
69		-
70		-	(ii) The owner, without having offered the property for sale to the 15
71		-	public or any third party, receives an offer to purchase the property from a third party. 16
72		-
73		-	(3) (i) If the owner receives an offer to purchase the property from a 17
74		-	third party as described in paragraph (2) of this subsection, the owner may not accept the 18
75		-	offer until: 19
76		-
77		-	1. The owner provides written notice to the tenant of the 20
78		-	tenant’s right of first refusal; and 21
79		-
80		-	2. The tenant has an opportunity to exercise the right of first 22
81		-	refusal within 30 days after receipt of the notice specified in paragraph (4)(i) of this 23
82		-	subsection. 24
83		-
84		-	(ii) The written notice of the right of first refusal to the tenant shall: 25
85		-
86		-	1. Be in the form specified in regulations by the Secretary; 26
87		-
88		-	2. Be delivered by: 27
89		-
90		-	A. First class mail with a certificate of mailing; or 28
91		-
92		-	B. A delivery service providing delivery tracking and 29
93		-	confirmation; 30
94		-
95		-	3. Contain the same sales price as the third–party offer to 31
96		-	purchase; 32
97		-	SENATE BILL 606 3
98		-
99		-
100		-	4. State, in a conspicuous manner, that the notice is a 1
101		-	solicitation of an offer to purchase and is not intended as and may not be construed as a 2
102		-	binding contract of sale; and 3
103		-
104		-	5. State any information regarding deadlines for the tenant 4
105		-	to submit an offer to purchase. 5
106		-
107		-	(iii) The owner shall send a copy of the notice to the Office of Tenant 6
108		-	and Landlord Affairs in accordance with regulations established by the Secretary. 7
109		-
110		-	(4) (i) Within 30 days after receipt of the notice under paragraph (3) of 8
111		-	this subsection, the tenant may deliver to the owner a written offer to purchase the 9
112		-	property. 10
113		-
114		-	(ii) If a tenant delivers an offer to purchase at the same sales price 11
115		-	as the offer from the third party, the owner shall accept the offer from the tenant and notify 12
116		-	the Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs. 13
117		-
118		-	(iii) If more than one tenant or group of tenants delivers a timely offer 14
119		-	to purchase the property, the owner may select the more favorable offer without liability to 15
120		-	any other tenant. 16
121		-
122		-	(h) (1) Following closing on a contract of sale between an owner and a [tenant] 17
123		-	THIRD PARTY, liability for failure to comply with this section is restricted to the owner and 18
124		-	may not attach to the residential rental property that is the subject of the contract. 19
125		-
126		-	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 20
127		-	October 1, 2025. 21
	45	+	(d) (1) (i) Before a voluntary transfer of title to a residential rental 22
	46	+	property may occur, any tenant or group of tenants of the property, as applicable, shall 23
	47	+	have the right of first refusal to purchase the property in accordance with the requirements 24
	48	+	of this subsection. 25 2 SENATE BILL 606
128	49
129	50
130	51
131		-	Approved:
132		-	________________________________________________________________________________
133		-	Governor.
134		-	________________________________________________________________________________
135		-	President of the Senate.
136		-	________________________________________________________________________________
137		-	Speaker of the House of Delegates.
	52	+	(ii) The right of a third party to purchase any residential rental 1
	53	+	property to which the requirements of this section apply is subject to the exercise of the 2
	54	+	right of first refusal by a tenant or group of tenants. 3
	55	+
	56	+	(2) A tenant has a right of first refusal to purchase residential rental 4
	57	+	property if: 5
	58	+
	59	+	(i) The owner intends to accept an offer from a third party to 6
	60	+	purchase the property for an amount that is at least 10% lower than the lowest price offered 7
	61	+	to the tenant in any previous notice, offer, or counteroffer under subsection (c) of this 8
	62	+	section; or 9
	63	+
	64	+	(ii) The owner, without having offered the property for sale to the 10
	65	+	public or any third party, receives an offer to purchase the property from a third party. 11
	66	+
	67	+	(3) (i) If the owner receives an offer to purchase the property from a 12
	68	+	third party as described in paragraph (2) of this subsection, the owner may not accept the 13
	69	+	offer until: 14
	70	+
	71	+	1. The owner provides written notice to the tenant of the 15
	72	+	tenant’s right of first refusal; and 16
	73	+
	74	+	2. The tenant has an opportunity to exercise the right of first 17
	75	+	refusal within 30 days after receipt of the notice specified in paragraph (4)(i) of this 18
	76	+	subsection. 19
	77	+
	78	+	(ii) The written notice of the right of first refusal to the tenant shall: 20
	79	+
	80	+	1. Be in the form specified in regulations by the Secretary; 21
	81	+
	82	+	2. Be delivered by: 22
	83	+
	84	+	A. First class mail with a certificate of mailing; or 23
	85	+
	86	+	B. A delivery service providing delivery tracking and 24
	87	+	confirmation; 25
	88	+
	89	+	3. Contain the same sales price as the third–party offer to 26
	90	+	purchase; 27
	91	+
	92	+	4. State, in a conspicuous manner, that the notice is a 28
	93	+	solicitation of an offer to purchase and is not intended as and may not be construed as a 29
	94	+	binding contract of sale; and 30
	95	+
	96	+	5. State any information regarding deadlines for the tenant 31
	97	+	to submit an offer to purchase. 32 SENATE BILL 606 3
	98	+
	99	+
	100	+
	101	+	(iii) The owner shall send a copy of the notice to the Office of Tenant 1
	102	+	and Landlord Affairs in accordance with regulations established by the Secretary. 2
	103	+
	104	+	(4) (i) Within 30 days after receipt of the notice under paragraph (3) of 3
	105	+	this subsection, the tenant may deliver to the owner a written offer to purchase the 4
	106	+	property. 5
	107	+
	108	+	(ii) If a tenant delivers an offer to purchase at the same sales price 6
	109	+	as the offer from the third party, the owner shall accept the offer from the tenant and notify 7
	110	+	the Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs. 8
	111	+
	112	+	(iii) If more than one tenant or group of tenants delivers a timely offer 9
	113	+	to purchase the property, the owner may select the more favorable offer without liability to 10
	114	+	any other tenant. 11
	115	+
	116	+	(h) (1) Following closing on a contract of sale between an owner and a [tenant] 12
	117	+	THIRD PARTY, liability for failure to comply with this section is restricted to the owner and 13
	118	+	may not attach to the residential rental property that is the subject of the contract. 14
	119	+
	120	+	SECTION 2. AND BE I T FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 15
	121	+	October 1, 2025. 16