When renting housing off-campus, misunderstandings and dissatisfactions are inevitable.  You have several options when a problem with your landlord occurs.  Initially, attempt to remedy the problem by notifying the landlord, preferably by certified mail, return receipt requested.  This lessens the possibility of later misunderstandings and further serves to maintain a record of you attempts to have the problem solved.  After being notified of a serious defect, the landlord has a “reasonable time” to rectify the complaint.  If this method fails to solve the problem, you may also submit a Housing Complaint Form to the Off-Campus Housing Service.

The Off-Campus Housing Service is a referral service for University of Maryland Baltimore County students, faculty, and staff seeking housing or roommates/boarders. The service maintains a file of complaints about landlords and management firms (herein referred to as landlords) filed by tenants who are members of the UMBC community.

The complaint file provides a system for tenants to share grievances or dissatisfactions regarding landlords with other users of the service provided. The contents of the complaint file consist of the subjective opinions of the tenants together with the landlords’ responses, if such responses are received. The presence of a complaint of landlord’s response does not imply that the landlord or tenant is guilty of breaking any law, that the facts alleged in the complaint or response are true, or that our service has investigated the complaint.