Maryland Criminal Attorney Blog
Maryland Criminal Attorney– Baltimore Criminal Lawyer I represented a defendant this afternoon in Prince Georges County District Court who was charged both with acting as a home improvement contractor without a license and failure to perform a home improvement contract which usually means failure to complete the contract to the homeowners satisfaction as it was in this case. Many people, including many new contractors, don’t realize that it is illegal to operate as a home improvement contractor without a license or to fail to perform the contract and that violations of this sort carry significant criminal sanctions or just how broad the definition of home improvement is.
The Annotated Code, Business Regulation Article defines both what constitutes home improvement as well as what the criminal penalties are for violations. According to Section 8-101 Home Improvement means: The addition to or alteration, conversion, improvement, modernization, remodeling, repair, or replacement of a building or part of a building that is used or designed to be used as a residence or dwelling place or a structure adjacent to that building; or an improvement to land adjacent to that building. In addition to the obvious things like building an addition or finishing a basement, home improvement includes work such as repaving a driveway and the connection, installation or replacement of a dishwasher, disposal or refrigerator. It also includes work such as landscaping or building a fence.
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