New videos aid tenants, landlords in court

The Maryland Judiciary said Wednesday it has produced three new online videos to provide basic legal information to tenants and landlords who face off in court without lawyers.

The three, 13-minute-long “self help” videos provide detailed instructions on what tenants and landlords can expect when they arrive at District Court for failure-to-payrent cases and renters’ complaints of dangerous living conditions.

The videos are part of the Maryland Judiciary’s efforts to expand online self-help resources as the number of people who appear without lawyers in its 34 District Courts continues to increase across the state.

“There has been a steady increase in the number of individuals who appear without counsel in the Maryland Courts,” according to a December report issued by the judiciary. “In most civil cases in District Court, at least one party, and often both parties, are unrepresented.”

There were 637,128 landlord-tenant cases filed across the state in fiscal year 2016, more than the motor vehicle, criminal and civil matters filed in District Courts, according to the judiciary’s most recent statistical abstract. Baltimore City had the third-highest volume of landlord-tenant matters with 151,238 cases, behind Prince George's and Baltimore counties.

A year-long investigation by The Baltimore Sun reported in April that city judges who oversee tenant complaints of substandard living conditions in “rent escrow” actions routinely ruled in favor of landlords, even when city inspectors had confirmed code violations that should have entitled renters to judgments of lowered or waived rents.

On the eviction side of District Court — which issued nearly 70,000 eviction notices in fiscal year 2016, leading to nearly 7,500 evictions — hearings are dispatched quickly, and the rulings routinely favor landlords alleging unpaid rent.

Since May of last year the judiciary has supported several efforts to provide more legal assistance in Baltimore landlord-tenant cases.

The videos, which have been added to a library of 22 others, are available to view anytime on the Maryland Judiciary website. And they also will play on televisions in courthouse hallways.

The direct link to the self-help video library is mdcourts.gov/reference/video library.html.