Senior MD woman faces eviction after speaking out about rent increase

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — A Prince George’s County resident said her landlord is trying to force her out of her home less than two weeks after she testified about extreme rent increases to local officials.

Reverend Deloris Prioleau, who lives at the Lodge at Marlton, a senior-living apartment complex in Upper Marlboro said she received a letter from the facility’s property manager, Habitat America, stating she will have to vacate her home in 60 days.

The letter said she failed to recertify her lease and has fewer than 10 days to correct the matter.

In late April, Prioleau testified to the Prince George’s County Council that Habitat America had recently proposed to increase her rent by more than $400 a month.

Prioleau testified just moments before the council voted to further strengthen the rent stabilization law it passed, earlier this year, stopping landlords from increasing tenants’ rent by more than 3 percent.

“I feel like I’m really being taken advantage of,” she said.

Prioleau, who is 77 years old, is angry for several reasons.

She said she has a two-year lease that doesn’t end until June 2024, so she doesn’t understand why she has to recertify annually.

Second, Prioleau said her landlord proposed to increase her rent before April 17th, that was when the county’s initial rent stabilization law went into effect.

Finally, she said she wasn’t even sent the initial paperwork by Habitat America, informing her of the need to recertify.

“They told me they sent me this paperwork in February,” Prioleau said. “Had I certified in February, I would have had to take that 400 to 500 dollar increase and there’s no way once I sign that contract that I would’ve been able to get out of it.”

She added the Lodge at Marlton has presented no information saying her lease would actually be capped at 3 percent even if she recertified.

“We’re not getting any good maintenance, we have no security, we don’t even have adequate parking,” she said.

WUSA9 reached out Habitat America and the company’s founder, but it has yet to receive a response.

“Many of us [seniors] have moved with our children and we’re sleeping on the sofa,” Prioleau said. “We’ve become babysitters. Our dignity has been destroyed.”