S.B. 937

# S.B. 937 Analysis This bill, Maryland's Fair Chance Housing Act, regulates how landlords can use criminal history records when screening residential tenants. The law prohibits landlords managing five or more rental units from requesting criminal history information before making a conditional job offer, and it restricts consideration of criminal convictions to only after extending a conditional offer to a prospective tenant—with specific exceptions for serious crimes like sexual offenses, murder, and human trafficking. The key impact is that it gives individuals with criminal records a fairer opportunity to be evaluated as tenants based on their application qualifications first, requires landlords to conduct individualized assessments that consider rehabilitation and mitigating factors, and makes violations enforceable under Maryland's Consumer Protection Act.