Tenants ask court if unlicensed landlords, property manager are committing fraud

A group of West Baltimore tenants seeking to hold their landlords and property manager accountable for failing to have a rental license will be able to take their case to trial next year after a judge sided with their unique legal argument. In an August ruling, Baltimore City Circuit Judge Kendra Y. Ausby allowed the case to proceed on four of five counts. One of them is a fraud and deceit claim — a somewhat rare allegation in landlord-tenant disputes due to the high bar required to prove it, legal experts who specialize in the practice area said.