(a) Nothing in this ordinance, other than the prohibitions against discriminatory advertising, applies to the sale or rental of a single family dwelling, if the dwelling is sold or rented without the use of the sales or rental facilities or services of any:
(1) Real estate broker, agent, or salesperson;
(2) Agent of any real estate broker, agent, or salesperson;
(3) Person in the business of selling, renting, or managing dwellings; or
(4) Agent of a person in the business of selling, renting, or managing dwellings.
(b) Nothing in this ordinance, other than the prohibition against discriminatory advertising, applies to the rental of any unit in a dwelling that contains four or fewer rental units, and the owner maintains a unit in the dwelling as the owner’s principal residence.
(c) The use of attorneys, escrow agents, abstractors, title companies, and other similar professional assistance as necessary to perfect or transfer the title may not subject a person to this ordinance if the person otherwise would be exempted.
(d) Nothing in this ordinance requires that a dwelling be made available to an individual whose tenancy:
(1) Would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals; or
(2) Would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others.
(e) Nothing in this ordinance shall prohibit a religious organization, association, or society or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, supervised, or controlled by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association, or society from limiting the sale, rental or occupancy of dwellings that it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose, to persons of the same religion, or from giving preference to these persons, unless membership in the religion is restricted on account of race, color or national origin.
(f) Nothing in this ordinance shall prohibit a private club not in fact open to the public, which as an incidence to its primary purpose or purposes, provides lodgings that it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose, from limiting the rental or occupancy of the dwelling to its members or from giving preference to its members.
(g) Nothing in this ordinance limits the applicability of any reasonable local, state or federal restrictions regarding the maximum number of occupants permitted to occupy a dwelling.
(h) The provisions in this ordinance that deal with familial status do not apply to housing for older persons as defined in § 2 of this ordinance.
(i) Nothing in this ordinance prohibits conduct against a person because the person has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction of the illegal manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance, as defined in Title 21, § 802 of the U.S. Code or a controlled dangerous substance as defined in Article 27, § 277 of the Maryland Code.
(j) The prohibitions in this ordinance against discrimination because of source of income do not prohibit:
(1) A commercially reasonable verification of a source and amount of income; or
(2) A commercially reasonable evaluation of the stability, security, and creditworthiness of any source of income; or
(3) The eviction of any person for lease violation behaviors; or
(4) The refusal to consider income derived from any criminal activity.
(k) With respect to discrimination on the basis of sex, this ordinance does not apply to rooms within a dwelling which have shared restroom and cooking facilities.