A challenge to the state's 2007 ground rent law is heading for trial, after a judge ruled Thursday that the issues should be fully aired.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Paul F. Harris Jr. denied both the leaseholders' and the state's request to decide the case without taking testimony.
In a four-paragraph opinion, Harris wrote that "the evidence presents genuine and novel questions of law" about whether the law illegally takes the leaseholders' property, and so deserves a full hearing. In May, Harris certified the leaseholders as a class of plaintiffs, opening the possibility that thousands of them could seek hundreds of millions of dollars from the state if they win their case.
Most ground rent leases in Maryland, in which people lease the land beneath their homes, are in Baltimore City.
The lawsuit argues the legislation made ground rent leases worthless and causes an unconstitutional seizure of private property without compensation. In addition to seeking payment from the state, the lawsuit argues that the laws are unconstitutional.
The General Assembly adopted new laws after a series of articles in The Baltimore Sun showed that a small group of investors had used the old laws to seize hundreds of houses in Baltimore when pittances in rent went unpaid. The new law abolished the legal process used to seize homes, banned the creation of new ground rents and required leaseholders to register their leases with the state or lose them. The registry is the subject of a separate legal challenge.