College Park landlords implored City Council members Tuesday not to extend the city's rent stabilization ordinance.

The ordinance, which expires Sept. 1, limits the rent landlords can collect on single-family homes. The council will likely vote Aug. 11 whether to extend it through Sept. 1, 2012. In a public hearing, many residential landlords called the law discriminatory because it applies to houses but not apartment complexes.

"None of the single-family landlords have a rental rate bigger than any of these towers that are going up," said Robert Davis, a College Park landlord. "The small businessman can't compete."

The City Council passed the ordinance in 2005 in hopes that it would curb rising rent costs, diminish the incentive for landlords and lead to an increase in owner-occupied homes in the city.

At the time, research by Baltimore-based Sage Policy Group Inc. indicated rental units were more likely to have code violations involving litter and home upkeep.

"Generally speaking, a person has to take more care of their property when they live there," said Councilman Patrick Wojahn (Dist. 1). "They tend to want to keep it around in better shape for a longer time."

The ordinance initially barred single-family homeowners from collecting monthly rent greater than 1 percent of the house's assessed value for property tax. That number decreased to 0.8 percent in July 2007, 0.7 percent in July 2008 and 0.6 percent in July 2009, according to the city code.

Many landlords accused the city of having an ulterior motive behind the ordinance — to rid neighborhoods of students from the University of Maryland, College Park.

"You can't come out and say, ‘We don't want students living here,'" said Bryan Mack, a College Park landlord who lives in Mount Airy. "But I think that's what's lying underneath everything."

While many landlords favored the outright abolishment of the ordinance, students at Tuesday's hearing spoke in favor of extending rent control to apartments as well as houses.

"The new [apartments] that are being built have an unfair advantage. They can charge rents that are artificially high," said Bob Hayes, a UM junior. "The only reason that I can afford to live in College Park is because I'm able to rent a single-family house with a group of people."

The City Council expects to vote on an extension at its Aug. 11 meeting. Mayor Stephen Brayman said he favors the ordinance and doesn't consider it discriminatory.

Councilman Jack Perry (Dist. 2) said he plans to vote against the extension. Councilwoman Mary Cook (Dist. 4) said she is also "leaning" that way.

"This is coming out of people being unhappy with their neighbors, basically," she said. "You have to find another way of working on it."

Councilman Robert Catlin (Dist. 2) and Wojahn said they are still undecided on the ordinance. While Wojahn said he would like to see more dialogue about extending the ordinance to apartment owners, Catlin called such an outcome "unlikely," saying that residential landlords already have their own advantage.

"Apartment buildings' property tax is based on how profitable they are," Catlin said. "If [single-family homes' property tax rates] were based on rental values, they'd have to pay far higher taxes to the city and the county. So they have a huge built-in advantage there."

E-mail David Hill at dhill@gazette.net.