[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Town of Berlin 11-4-1982 by Ord. No. 82-5. Amendments noted where applicable.]

§ 48-1. Purpose.

It is the policy of the Town of Berlin to provide, within constitutional limitations, for fair housing throughout the Town.

§ 48-2. Definitions and word usage.

A. Word usage. Words used in the present tense include the future; words used in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter; the singular number includes the plural, and the plural number the singular. The words "dwelling," "dwelling unit" or "premises" include the words "or any part thereof."

B. Terms defined. Certain words or terms in this chapter are defined, for the purpose hereof, as follows:

DISCRIMINATORY HOUSING PRACTICE — An act that is unlawful under § 48-4, 48-5 or 48-6.

DWELLING — Any building, structure or portion thereof which is occupied as, or designed or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families, and any vacant land which is offered for sale or lease for the construction or location thereon of any such building, structure or portion thereof.

FAMILY — Includes a single individual.

PERSON — Includes one or more individuals, corporations, partnerships, associations, labor organizations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers and fiduciaries.

TO RENT — Includes to lease, to sublease, to let and otherwise to grant for a consideration the right to occupy premises owned by the occupant.

§ 48-3. Applicability.

Subject to the provisions of Subsection B and § 48-7, the prohibitions against discrimination in the sale or rental of housing set forth in § 48-4 shall apply to:

1. All dwellings except as exempted by Subsection B.
2. Nothing in § 48.4 shall apply to:
1. Any single-family house sold or rented by an owner, provided that such private individual owner does not own more than three such single-family houses at any one time, provided further, that, in the case of the sale of any such single-family house by a private individual owner not residing in such house at the time of such sale or who was not the most recent resident of such house prior to such sale, the exemption granted by this subsection shall apply only with respect to one such sale within any twenty-four-month period, provided further that such bona fide private individual owner does not own any interest in, nor is there owned or reserved on his behalf, under any express or voluntary agreement, title to or any right to all or a portion of the proceeds from the sale or rental of, more than three such single-family houses at any one time, provided further that the sale or rental of any such single-family house shall be excepted from the application of this title only if such house is sold or rented without the use, in any manner, of the sales or rental facilities or the sales or rental services of any real estate broker, agent or salesman or of such facilities or services of any person in the business of selling or renting dwellings or of any employee or agent of any such broker, agent, salesman or person and without the publication, posting or mailing, after notice, of any advertisement or written notice in violation of § 48-4C of this chapter, but nothing in this proviso shall prohibit the use of attorneys, escrow agents, abstractors, title companies and other such professional assistance as necessary to perfect or transfer the title; or
2. Rooms or units in dwellings containing living quarters occupied or intended to be occupied by no more than four families living independently of each other, if the owner actually maintains and occupies one of such living quarters as his residence.
3. For the purposes of Subsection B, a person shall be deemed to be in the business of selling or renting dwellings if:
1. He has, within the preceding 12 months, participated as principal in three or more transactions involving the sale or rental of any dwelling or any interest therein;
2. He has, within the preceding 12 months, participated as an agent, other than in the sale of his own personal residence, in providing sales or rental facilities or sales or rental services in two or more transactions involving the sale or rental of any dwelling or any interest therein; or
3. He is the owner of any dwelling designed or intended for occupancy by or occupied by five or more families.

 § 48-4. Sale or rental of housing.

As made applicable by § 48-3 and except as exempted by §§ 48-3B and 48-7, it shall be unlawful to:

1. Refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer or refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of or otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion or national origin.
2. Discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith because of race, color, religion or national origin.
3. Make, print or publish or cause to be made, printed or published any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
4. Represent to any person because of race, color, religion or national origin that any dwelling is not available for inspection, sale or rental when such dwelling is, in fact, so available.
5. For profit, induce or attempt to induce any person to sell or rent any dwelling by representations regarding the entry or prospective entry into the neighborhood of a person or persons of a particular race, color, religion or national origin.

§ 48-5. Financing.

It shall be unlawful for any bank, building and loan association, insurance company or other corporation, association, firm or enterprise whose business consists, in whole or in part, in the making of commercial real estate loans to deny a loan or other financial assistance to a person applying therefor for the purpose of purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing or maintaining a dwelling or to discriminate against him in the fixing of the amount, interest rate, duration or other terms or conditions of such loan or other financial assistance because of the race, color, religion or national origin of such person or of any person associated with him in connection with such loan or other financial assistance or the purposes of such loan or other financial assistance or of the present or prospective owners, lessees, tenants or occupants of the dwelling or dwellings in relation to which such loan or other financial assistance is to be made or given, provided that nothing contained in this section shall impair the scope or effectiveness of the exception contained in § 48-3B.

§ 48-6. Brokerage services.

It shall be unlawful to deny any person access to or membership or participation in any multiple-listing service, real estate brokers’ organization or other service, organization or facility relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings or to discriminate against him in the terms or conditions of such access, membership or participation on account of race, color, religion or national origin.

§ 48-7. Exemptions.

Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit a religious organization, association or society or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, supervised or controlled by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association or society from limiting the sale, rental or occupancy of dwellings which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose to persons of the same religion or from giving preference to such persons, unless membership in such religion is restricted on account of race, color or national origin; nor shall anything in this chapter prohibit a private club not in fact open to the public which, as an incident to its primary purpose or purposes, provides lodgings which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose from limiting the rental or occupancy of such lodgings to its members or from giving preference to its members.

§ 48-8. Administration.

1. The authority and responsibility for administering this chapter shall be in the Mayor and Council of the Town of Berlin.
2. The Mayor and Council may delegate any of these functions, duties and powers to employees of the Town or to boards of such employees, including functions, duties and powers with respect to investigating, conciliating, hearing, determining, ordering, certifying, reporting or otherwise acting as to any work, business or matter under this chapter. The Mayor and Council shall, by rule, prescribe such rights of appeal from the decisions of their hearing examiners to other hearing examiners or to other officers in the Town to boards of officers or to themselves and shall be appropriate and in accordance with law.
3. All executive departments and agencies shall administer their programs and activities relating to housing and urban development in a manner affirmatively to further the purposes of this chapter and shall cooperate with the Mayor and Council to further such purposes.

 § 48-9. Education and conciliation.

Immediately after the enactment of this chapter, the Mayor and Council may commence such educational and conciliatory activities as will further the purposes of this chapter. They may call conferences of persons in the housing industry and other Interested parties to acquaint them with the provisions of this chapter and their suggested means of implementing it and shall endeavor, with their advice, to work out programs of voluntary compliance and of enforcement.

§ 48-10. Enforcement.

1. Any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice or who believes that he will be irrevocably injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur (hereafter "person aggrieved") may file a complaint with the Mayor and Council. Complaints shall be in writing and shall contain such information and be in such form as the Mayor and Council require. Upon receipt of such complaint, the Mayor and Council shall furnish a copy of the same to the person or persons who allegedly committed or are about to commit the alleged discriminatory housing practice. Within 30 days after receiving a complaint or within 30 days after the expiration of any period of reference under Subsection C, the Mayor and Council shall investigate the complaint and give notice, in writing, to the person aggrieved whether he intends to resolve it. If the Mayor and Council decide to resolve the complaints, he shall proceed to try to eliminate or correct the alleged discriminatory housing practice by informal methods of conference, conciliation and persuasion. Nothing said or done in the course of such informal endeavors may be made public or used as evidence in a subsequent proceeding under this chapter without the written consent of the persons concerned. Any employee of the Mayor and Council who shall make public any information in violation of this provision shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year.
2. A complaint under Subsection A shall be filed within 180 days after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred. Complaints shall be in writing and shall state the facts upon which the allegations of a discriminatory housing practice are based. Complaints may be reasonably and fairly amended at any time. A respondent may file an answer to the complaint against him and, with the leave of the Mayor and Council, which shall be granted whenever it would be reasonable and fair to do so, may amend his answer at any time. Both complaints and answers shall be verified.
3. If, within 30 days after a complaint is filed with the Mayor and Council, the Mayor and Council have been unable to obtain voluntary compliance with this chapter, the person aggrieved may, within 30 days thereafter, file a complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Mayor and Council may assist in this filing.
4. If the Mayor and Council have been unable to obtain voluntary compliance within 30 days of the complaint, the person aggrieved may, within 30 days hereafter, commence a civil action in any appropriate court, against the respondent named in the complaint, to enforce the rights granted or protected by this chapter, insofar as such rights relate to the subject of the complaint. If the court finds that a discriminatory housing practice has occurred or is about to occur, the court may enjoin the respondent from engaging in such practice or order such affirmative action as may be appropriate.
5. In any proceeding brought pursuant to this section, the burden of proof shall be on the complainant.
6. Whenever an action filed by an individual shall come to trial, the Mayor and Council shall immediately terminate all efforts to obtain voluntary compliance.

§ 48-11. Access to premises; investigations.

1. In conducting an investigation, the Mayor and Council shall have access to all reasonable times to premises, records, documents, individuals and other evidence or possible sources of evidence and may examine, record and copy such materials and take and record the testimony or statements of such persons as are reasonably necessary for the furtherance of the investigation; provided, however, that the Mayor and Council first comply with the provisions of the Fourth Amendment relating to unreasonable searches and seizures. The Mayor and Council may issue subpoenas to compel their access to or the production of such materials or the appearance of such persons and may issue interrogatories to a respondent, to the same extent and subject to the same limitations as would apply if the subpoenas or interrogatories were issued or served in aid of a civil action in the United States District Court for the district in which the investigation is taking place. The Mayor and Council may administer oaths.
2. Upon written application to the Mayor and Council, a respondent shall be entitled to the issuance of a reasonable number of subpoenas by and in the name of the Mayor and Council to the same extent and subject to the same limitations as subpoenas issued by the Mayor and Council themselves. Subpoenas issued at the request of a respondent shall show on their face the name and address of such respondent and shall state that they were issued at his request.
3. Witnesses summoned by subpoena of the Mayor and Council shall be entitled to the same witness and mileage fees as are witnesses in proceedings in United States District Courts. Fees payable to a witness summoned by a subpoena issued at the request of a respondent shall be paid by him.
4. Within five days after service of a subpoena upon any person, such person may petition the Mayor and Council to revoke or modify the subpoena. The Mayor and Council shall grant the petition if they find that the subpoena requires appearance or attendance at an unreasonable time or place, that it requires production of evidence which does not relate to any matter under investigation, that it does not describe with sufficient particularity the evidence to be produced, that compliance would be unduly onerous or for other good reason.
5. In case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena, the Mayor and Council or other person at whose request it was issued may petition for its enforcement in the municipal or state court for the district in which the person to whom the subpoena was addressed resides, was served or transacts business.
6. Any person who willfully fails or neglects to attend and testify or to answer any lawful inquiry or to produce records, documents or other evidence, if in his power to do so, in obedience to the subpoena or lawful order of the Mayor and Council shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. Any person who, with intent thereby to mislead the Mayor and Council, shall make or cause to be made any false entry or statement of fact in a report, account, record or other document submitted to the Mayor and Council pursuant to his subpoena or other order or shall willfully neglect or fail to make or cause to be made full, true and correct entries in such reports, accounts, records or other documents or shall willfully mutilate, alter, or by any other means falsify any documentary evidence shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
7. The Town Attorney shall conduct all litigation in which the Mayor and Council participate as a party or as amicus pursuant to this chapter.

§ 48-12. Enforcement by private persons.

1. The rights granted by §§ 48-3, 48-4, 48-5 and 48-6 may be enforced by civil actions in state or local courts of general jurisdiction. A civil action shall be commenced within 180 days after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred; provided, however, that the court shall continue such civil case brought pursuant to this section or § 48-10D from time to time before bringing it to trial if the court believes that the conciliation efforts of the Mayor and Council are likely to result in satisfactory settlement of the discriminatory housing practice complained of in the complaint made to the Mayor and Council and which practice forms the basis for the action in court; and provided, however, that any sale, encumbrance or rental consummated prior to the issuance of any court order issued under the authority of this chapter and involving a bona fide purchaser, encumbrancer or tenant without actual notice of the existence of the filing of a complaint or civil action under the provisions of this chapter shall not be affected.
2. The court may grant as relief, as it deems appropriate, any permanent or temporary injunction, temporary restraining order or other order and may award to the plaintiff actual damages and not more than $1,000 in punitive damages, together with court costs and reasonable attorney fees in the case of a prevailing plaintiff, provided that said plaintiff, in the opinion of the court, is not financially able to assume said attorney’s fees.

§ 48-13. Interference, coercion or intimidation.

It shall be unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with any person in the exercise or enjoyment of, or on account of his having exercised or enjoyed, or on account of his having aided or encouraged any other person in the exercise or enjoyment of, any right granted or protected by § 48-3, 48-4, 48-5 or 48-6. This section may be enforced by appropriate civil action.

§ 48-14. Violations and penalties.

Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, by force or threat of force willfully injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with the following shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, and, if bodily injury or death results, shall be fined and imprisoned as set forth in Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland:

Any person because of his race, color, religion or national origin and because he is or has been selling, purchasing, renting, financing, occupying or contracting or negotiating for the sale, purchase, rental, financing or occupation of any dwelling or applying for or participating in any service, organization or facility relating to the business of selling or renting dwellings.

1. Any person because he is or has been or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from:
1. Participating, without discrimination on account of race, color, religion or national origin, in any of the activities, services, organizations or facilities described in Subsection A;
2. Affording another person or class of persons opportunity or protection so to participate.
2. Any citizen because he is or has been or in order to discourage such citizen or any other citizen from lawfully aiding or encouraging other persons to participate, without discrimination on account of race, color, religion or national origin, in any of the activities, services, organizations or facilities described in Subsection A or participating lawfully in speech or peaceful assembly opposing any denial of the opportunity to so participate.