No Good Options

By: Indigo Null

It was the 1:15pm docket on Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023. Judge Theresa C. Morse is presiding.

A case is called where the landlord is requesting to foreclose the right of redemption¹. A young black man walks up and takes the stand on the tenant side, the landlord was being represented by an agent from MD Rent Court. The agent tells Judge Morse that he’d spoken with the tenant in the hallway and they’d settled on a consent judgment² with a 14-day stay of execution on the eviction. The tenant was hoping the two weeks would give him the time to get the money together to pay his back rent. There is a problem though - the agent had not mentioned to the tenant that the landlord requested to foreclose his right to redeem - The agent claimed he hadn’t seen it in the paperwork³.

Without the right to redeem, the tenant’s ability to get rent together in two weeks was essentially irrelevant, as he would be evicted regardless - The tenant was visibly upset when he learned this. Judge Morse asked if he still consented to the judgment anyway, and he responded he did not.

Judge Morse explained to the tenant what right of redemption was, and told him he had two options: he could take the consent judgment anyway and have at least 14 days before the eviction. This wasn’t really much of a deal considering tenants usually have that long, if not longer between a judgment and the sheriff arriving). OR he could ask for a trial if he thought he had a defense, but that stay would no longer be an option. 

The tenant begrudgingly agreed to the consent judgment, visibly upset.

Being interviewed by a BRU advocate afterwards, the tenant said he felt misled by the agent from MD Rent Court and was said he believed the agent had known the landlord wanted to foreclose the right of redemption. The agent had never identified himself or explained who he was either, and had not been honest about how long evictions normally take. The tenant stated that he felt rushed in the hearing and that he didn’t really have any option but to accept the consent judgment, and he hadn’t understood or been told that it waived his right to appeal. 

He further explained that he had actively applied for rental assistance over 6 months ago, but his landlord  had not done their end of the application, stalling the process months. The landlord had told him just weeks ago that they would work out a payment plan with him - he had paid back over 75% of his balance since then. The rental company had made no mention to him of filing another eviction or foreclosing his right to redeem - this hearing and the outcome had been a total surprise to him - this makes sense because this detail is often missing or unreadable on the copy of the complaint the tenant gets. He mentioned that there had been many maintenance issues in his building like leaks and an ongoing issue with losing running water for days at a time.

The tenant expressed frustration at how a combination of apathy and malice on the part of his landlord and the court system were going to lead to him being evicted even though he’d worked hard to pay his balance and had done everything he was supposed to. He said “if they (the rental company) had done what they said they would from Jump Street, they would have their money and we wouldn’t be here right now.”

 ¹In Baltimore City, tenants have a right of redemption, meaning they can pay the owed balance from their judgment up to the day the sheriff comes and remain in their home. If a tenant has more than 4 judgments against them in the last 365 days, a landlord can request that they no longer be allowed to do so.

²A consent judgment is when a tenant consents to receiving a judgment, usually in exchange for some concession from the landlord. A tenant foregoes their right to appeal if they agree to a consent judgment. You can read more about consent judgments in our blog “Consent Has No Meaning In Baltimore’s Rent Court”
³If a landlord is asking to foreclose the tenant’s right of redemption, that has to be listed on the complaint. The tenant and the landlord’s agent both get a copy of the complaint before the court date, and the agents reference complaints when negotiating with tenants.