Your Local Government Can Make Condo Law
- Admin
- Apr 26
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 9
City and county condo laws are largely preempted by state law -- so much so that many local elected officials think they can't help solve local problems unless they are granted certain authority through what is called a "state local law," a state law written to apply only to a specific local jurisdiction. (Here is one example that regulates just Frederick County.)
However, that authority may have already been broadly granted in “real property” state laws such as 11-122(b) and 11-130(d).
§11–122.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this title, a county, city, or other jurisdiction may not enact any law, ordinance, or regulation which would impose a burden or restriction on a condominium that is not imposed on all other property of similar character not subjected to a condominium regime...
§11–130.
(d) A county or incorporated municipality, or an agency of any of those jurisdictions, may adopt laws or ordinances for the protection of a consumer to the extent and in the manner provided for under § 13-103 of the Commercial Law Article.
(e) Within 30 days of the effective date of a law, ordinance, or regulation enacted under this section which is expressly applicable to condominiums, the local jurisdiction shall forward a copy of the law, ordinance or regulation to the Secretary of State.
Local laws that govern meeting and voting rules
Most importantly, there is an attorney general opinion of December 22, 1982, that more specifically addresses local laws governing meeting and voting rules.
Meeting and voting rules do not directly govern the use of land itself, as the meeting and voting rules are merely the procedures by which associations create land use restrictions.
Therefore, each city or county can enact some of its own laws on meeting and voting rules for condominiums. Such laws would generally be more restrictive to protect the consumer, sometimes establishing procedure where state law is silent.
Question to ask your local elected official:
Are local laws only preempted (void) if they do not impose the same burden or restriction on all property of similar character? If the County already understands that it can regulate meeting, voting, building, and zoning, can it regulate even more condo activity as long as it treats all common ownerships equally?
These questions could be posed to your city or county council members. They probably won’t answer you directly, but they’ll likely look into it and answer the question for themselves. Make sure you give them a copy of the attorney general opinion above and keep asking the question until your council shows interest in passing its own laws for condo consumer protection.
Your county could consider the legality of requiring developers to structure their private condominiums (through the meeting and voting sections of the Declaration filed in the Land Records) to mirror basic constitutional principles of directly elected representatives (including the association President without using board members as “faithless electors”) and separation of legislative and judicial powers, especially if the county requires all new development of a certain size to form a mandatory HOA. For example, board members voting to assess a fine should not judge the dispute when they are a party to the dispute. Instead, a county law should be proposed requiring the council of unit owners to elect another body, such as an appeals committee with entirely unique members, to hear such disputes.
Otherwise, condominium owners are divorced from traditional notions of American society and live instead under neighborhood kings, queens, despots, authoritarians, or even mini-oligarchs. An early American once asked Ben Franklin, "What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" His response was, "A republic, if you can keep it."
This article is for educational purposes only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of CHARM Maryland, Inc. It is not intended to be legal advice.
