This is a letter to alert any landlord who happens to have a rental home(s) in Baltimore County. Since my husband and I live in Elkridge, we patronize the Elkridge Branch Library. Fortunately, a friend saw a packet of papers on a counter at the Arbutus Library and gave us a copy. Can you imagine my husband's and my shock and dismay to read in large letters on the front page:

"Do you own rental property in Baltimore County? The law now requires rental dwelling units to be registered, inspected by a certified home inspector, and licensed before July 1, 2008. Landlords could face fines of $1,000 per day!"

We did not have a clue. To be in total compliance with the lengthy list of requirements, we had to have a beautiful, well maintained house practically turned upside down and will never, in our lifetime, get more rental money out of it than the cost of the renovation demanded by the county. This bill was passed in December 2007 as a pilot program and was expanded to the entire county on Feb. 3, 2008.

The county surely knows where we live. We get our tax bill for that property at our Elkridge address every year, and it has been registered with the Maryland Department of the Environment as a rental unit for years. When were they going to inform us of this law? When they start collecting that $1,000 per day fine?

The unintended consequences of these government regulations will include the necessary raising of rents, the forced selling of good rental homes and diminished availability of affordable housing.

Polly Ford

Elkridge

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