(a) Covenants.
(1) This Article applies to the owner and any successor in interest, assignee, or other person with a legal or equitable interest in a workforce housing unit. Before recording the plat for a workforce housing project, the owner must execute and record covenants assuring that:
(A) the restrictions of this Article run with the land;
(B) the covenants are binding on the owner, any assignee, mortgagee, or later purchaser, and any other party that receives title to the property; and
(C) the County may create a lien to collect that portion of the sale price or foreclosure sale price of a workforce housing unit which exceeds the approved resale price.
(2) Any covenant executed to satisfy paragraph (1) must be senior to all instruments securing permanent financing.
(b) Later deeds. The grantor must clearly and conspicuously state, in any purchase and sale agreement and any deed or instrument conveying title to a workforce housing unit, and the grantee must clearly and conspicuously acknowledge, that the unit is subject to this Article and the restrictions in the covenants until all restrictions are released under Section 25B-27 or another provision of law. Any deed or other instrument conveying title to a workforce housing unit during the control period must be signed by both the grantor and grantee. When a deed or other instrument conveying title to a workforce housing unit is recorded in the land records, the grantor must cause to be filed in the land records a notice of sale for the benefit of the County in the form provided by state law.
(c) Violations; enforcement.
(1) Any violation of this Article or regulations adopted under it is a class A violation.
(2) An occupancy permit must not be issued for any building to any applicant, or a successor or assign of any applicant, for any construction which does not comply with this Chapter. The Director of Permitting Services may deny, suspend, or revoke any applicable building or occupancy permit if the Director finds that the applicant or permittee has committed a violation of this Article. The Planning Board may revoke any previously approved preliminary plan of subdivision, site plan, or sketch plan, if the Board finds a violation of this Article.
(3) The Director may take legal action to stop or cancel any transfer of a workforce housing unit if any party to the transfer does not comply with all requirements of this Article. The Director may recover any funds improperly obtained from any sale or rental of a workforce housing unit in violation of this Article, plus costs and interest at the rate prescribed by law from the date a violation occurred.
(4) In addition to or instead of any other available remedy, the Director may take leal action to:
(A) enjoin a workforce housing unit owner who violates this Article, or any covenant signed or order issued under this Article, from continuing the violation; or
(B) require an owner to sell a workforce housing unit owned or occupied in violation of this Article to the County, the Housing Opportunities Commission, or an eligible person. (2006 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 1; 2010 L.M.C., ch. 11, § 1; 2016 L.M.C., ch. 8, § 1.)
Editor’s note—Former Section 25B-27, Control of sale prices; rent limits; income eligibility; foreclosures, was renumbered 25B-26 by 2010 L.M.C., ch. 11, § 2.
Former Section 25B-28, Compliance, was renumbered 25B-27 by 2010 L.M.C., ch. 11, § 2.