Court of Appeals of Maryland Issues Second Amended Administrative Order on Foreclosures & Evictions
On August 11, 2020 the Court of Appeals entered an administrative order amending the previous orders with regards to foreclosures and evictions. This amended order does not impose any further moratoriums or restrictions than what has already been enacted.
It notes that the Federal moratoriums and State moratoriums are applied to foreclosures in different ways (for example, no Maryland moratorium makes any distinction between federally-insured and non-federally insured loans) and the State Courts are ill-equipped to determine if a case is covered by Federal moratoriums. Because of this, the Court of Appeals has required that in any foreclosure or eviction case that is to proceed at the present a Declaration of Compliance with the CARES Act (for eviction or ejectment cases) or a Declaration of Exemption from Moratorium (for foreclosure cases) must be filed. This is to ensure that State Courts do not accidentally violate any Federal rules. The form for the Declaration of Compliance with the CARES Act is linked here; however no specific form for the Declaration of Exemption from Moratorium has been promulgated.
At the present time the Court of Appeals has not suggested a specific punitive or penalizing result from failure to complete this; though failure to do so timely upon direct request could result in dismissal of the foreclosure case at the presiding Judge’s discretion.
Please also be aware that Maryland continues to have a moratorium on sending the Notice of Intent to Foreclose; which is the most notable rule in the State as it effectively is a moratorium on initiating foreclosure in general. This recent amended order does not effect this moratorium in any way.