Landlords in Montgomery County, Md., will be prohibited from raising rents above a certain percentage until May 15, 2022, under a law passed Tuesday by the county council.

The prohibition extends tenant protections that lawmakers put into place during the pandemic. Under the legislation from Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At Large), landlords will be allowed to raise rents up to a maximum of 1.4% for the remainder of the year. Next year’s cap will conform to the county’s voluntary rent guidelines, which are based on the rental component of the Consumer Price Index.

The law also temporarily bars landlords from charging fees for late rent payments, but it does not require them to refund late fees they have already charged during the pandemic.

In a statement, Jawando said the legislation is likely to benefit Black and Latino residents in particular because they are impacted disproportionately by housing insecurity in the county.

“By stabilizing rents until May 2022 and preventing the collection of late fees, we will help the many low-income families, senior citizens living on a fixed income and people with disabilities who have been deeply impacted by the pandemic and continue to need rental support,” Jawando said.

Landlords fought Jawando’s bill, saying it could have unintended consequences for the local economy. A lobbyist for the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington said it would undercut landlords’ ability to maintain their rental properties.

Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Councilmember Nancy Navarro (D-District 4) stressed the importance of keeping landlords whole with the continued distribution of rent assistance in the county. Members of the council’s Planning, Housing and Economic Development committee amended the bill to phase out protections in May, rather than August as Jawando initially proposed, to address concerns from their colleagues that the measure could hurt landlords.

The council initially approved the cap in April 2020 in response to the pandemic, but its protections were scheduled to phase out 90 days after the end of Maryland’s health emergency. That emergency ended Aug. 15, meaning the cap would have expired Nov. 15 without further action from the council.

Renters in the county won’t be required to attest to economic hardship in order to qualify for the rent limitation.

Locally, D.C. banned all rent increases until the end of the year, though a recent report shows that rents at market-rate buildings rose 8.6% between September 2020 and September 2021. Property owners say they were confused by the rent freeze, and weren’t sure whether it pertained to all units or just occupied units.

This story was updated to clarify that an amendment phasing out the rent cap in August was brought by multiple members of the council’s PHED committee, not just Chair Hans Riemer.