2013 Maryland Code
REAL PROPERTY
§ 11B-113 - Homeowners association depository

(a) Location. -- There is a homeowners association depository in the office of the clerk of the court in each county and the City of Baltimore.

(b) Establishment and maintenance. -- Consistent with the duties of a clerk of a court as enumerated in § 2-201 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, the clerk of the court shall establish and thereafter maintain a depository for the purpose of making available to the public upon request the information to be deposited by homeowners associations.

(c) Document file separate from land records; contents; availability for public view or copying. -- The depository shall:

(1) Be established and maintained in each county and the City of Baltimore as a document file separate from the land records of the county or City;

(2) Contain a record of the names of all homeowners associations for each county and the City of Baltimore;

(3) Contain all disclosures deposited by a homeowners association; and

(4) Be available to the public for viewing and for obtaining copies during the regular business hours of the office of the clerk.

(d) Duties of the clerk and State Court Administrator. --

(1) The clerk of the court is authorized to regulate the form and manner of documents deposited into the depository and to collect fees for a deposit.

(2) The clerk of the court shall permit the deposit of copies of disclosures, however reproduced.

(3) The clerk of the court may adopt regulations as necessary or desirable to implement the depository.

(4) The State Court Administrator shall establish, so as to cover the reasonable and ordinary expenses of maintaining the depository, the amount of the fees that the clerk of the court may charge for deposits in the depository.

(5) (i) The clerk of the court shall maintain a depository index; and

(ii) All disclosures shall be filed under the name of the homeowners association.

(e) Contents not recordation under Title 3. -- Material contained in the depository may not be viewed as recordation under Title 3 of this article.

§ 11B-113 - 1. Electronic transmission of notice

(a) In general. -- Notwithstanding language contained in the governing documents of a homeowners association, the homeowners association may provide notice of a meeting or deliver information to a lot owner by electronic transmission if:

(1) The board of directors or other governing body of the homeowners association gives the homeowners association the authority to provide notice of a meeting or deliver information by electronic transmission;

(2) The lot owner gives the homeowners association prior written authorization to provide notice of a meeting or deliver information by electronic transmission; and

(3) An officer or agent of the homeowners association certifies in writing that the homeowners association has provided notice of a meeting or delivered material or information as authorized by the lot owner.

(b) Ineffective notice. -- Notice or delivery by electronic transmission shall be considered ineffective if:

(1) The homeowners association is unable to deliver two consecutive notices; and

(2) The inability to deliver the electronic transmission becomes known to the person responsible for sending the electronic transmission.

(c) Ineffective notice -- Effect. -- The inadvertent failure to deliver notice by electronic transmission does not invalidate any meeting or other action.

§ 11B-113 - 2. Electronic transmission of votes or proxies

(a) In general. -- Notwithstanding language contained in the governing documents of the homeowners association, the board of directors or other governing body of the homeowners association may authorize lot owners to submit a vote or proxy by electronic transmission if the electronic transmission contains information that verifies that the vote or proxy is authorized by the lot owner or the lot owner's proxy.

(b) When anonymous voting required. -- If the governing documents of the homeowners association require voting by secret ballot and the anonymity of voting by electronic transmission cannot be guaranteed, voting by electronic transmission shall be permitted if lot owners have the option of casting anonymous printed ballots.

§ 11B-113 - 3. Deletion of ownership restrictions based on race, religion, or national origin

(a) Applicability. -- This section applies to any recorded covenant or restriction that restricts ownership based on race, religious belief, or national origin, including a covenant or restriction that is part of a uniform general scheme or plan of development.

(b) Deletion of recorded covenant or restriction. -- Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, a homeowners association may delete a recorded covenant or restriction that restricts ownership based on race, religious belief, or national origin from the deeds or other declarations of property in the development if at least 85% of the lot owners in the development agree to the deletion of the recorded covenant or restriction from the deeds or other declarations.

(c) Deletion of recorded covenant or restriction -- Deeds or declarations providing for amendment. -- If the deeds or other declarations of property in the development expressly provide for a method of amendment or deletion of a recorded covenant or restriction, a recorded covenant or restriction that restricts ownership based on race, religious belief, or national origin may be deleted as provided for in the deeds or declarations or in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.

(d) Recording amendment. -- After the lot owners in the development agree to the deletion of a recorded covenant or restriction that restricts ownership based on race, religious belief, or national origin as provided in subsection (a) of this section, the governing body of the homeowners association shall record with the clerk of the court in the jurisdiction where the development is located an amendment to the deeds or other declarations that include the recorded covenant or restriction, executed by at least 85% of the lot owners in the development, that provides for the deletion of the recorded covenant or restriction from the deeds or declarations of the property in the development.

§ 11B-113 - 4. Annual charge

(a) Legislative intent. -- It is the intent of the General Assembly to prevent unfair treatment of property owners by a homeowners association when annual charges based on the assessed value of property imposed by the homeowners association increase at such a rate that it creates an unexpected windfall for the homeowners association.

(b) "Annual charge" defined. -- In this section, the term "annual charge" means a charge based on the current assessed value of property for county and State property taxes that is levied by a homeowners association on property in a development.

(c) Applicability of section. -- This section only applies to a development that:

(1) Contains at least 13,000 acres of land and has a population of at least 80,000; and

(2) Is governed by a homeowners association that levies an annual charge on property within the development.

(d) Calculating the annual charge. --

(1) A homeowners association shall base the annual charge for the revalued properties on the phased in value of property as provided under § 8-103 of the Tax - Property Article.

(2) If the value of an improved property has been reduced by the State or county assessments office after, or by reason of, a protest, appeal, credit, or other adjustment, the homeowners association shall reduce the annual charge on the property based on the reduced value.

(e) Calculating the annual charge -- Rebate or credit. -- Until the annual charge for the revalued property is based on the phased in value of property as required under subsection (d) of this section, if the value of the properties revalued as of the most recent date of finality as provided in § 8-104 of the Tax - Property Article exceeds the prior valuation by more than 10%:

(1) The increase shall be considered an unexpected windfall to the homeowners association that should be offset; and

(2) Beginning with the first year following the revaluation of the property for State property tax purposes, the homeowners association shall provide to the owner of the revalued property a rebate or credit in an amount equal to the portion of the annual charge that is attributable to the growth in the value of the revalued property in excess of 10%.

(f) Applicability of subsections (d) and (e). -- Subsections (d) and (e) of this section do not apply if a governing body certifies on or before April 1 in the first year following the revaluation of property values for State property tax purposes that the revenues from the annual charges are insufficient to meet the debt service requirements during the next taxable year on all bonds that the governing body anticipates will be outstanding during that year.

(g) Rate of assessed value of property. -- Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, when calculating an annual charge, a homeowners association may not consider the rate of assessed value of property to have increased by more than 10% in a taxable year.

§ 11B-113 - 5. Annexation of land in Howard County.

(a) Scope. -- This section establishes the process for the annexation of parcels of land that are subject to the deed, agreement, and declaration establishing any of the villages or town center in Columbia in Howard County.

(b) In general. -- Notwithstanding any provision of law or contract, a parcel of land located in that area of land in Howard County that is subject to the deed, agreement, and declaration of covenants, easements, charges, and liens dated December 13, 1966, and recorded in the land records of Howard County in Liber W.H.H. 463, Folio 158, et seq. (the Columbia Association Declaration) that is not part of the village or town center in which the land is located may be annexed into the village or town center if:

(1) The owner or developer of the land makes an application for annexation to the village or town center community association; and

(2) The Columbia Association or its successor and the village or town center community association approve the annexation.

(c) Execution and filing of instruments. -- An instrument that consolidates a parcel of land into the village or town center in which the land is located shall be executed and filed for recordation in the land records of Howard County.

(d) Applicability of covenants, restrictions, or contract provisions. --

(1) A parcel of land that is annexed into a village or town center in accordance with this section shall be subject to the recorded covenants and restrictions of the village or town center in which the parcel of land is located.

(2) An annexation completed in accordance with this section may not abrogate or in any other way affect any approval previously granted or condition previously imposed under a recorded covenant or contract regarding improvements constructed on the annexed property.