Maryland Landlord-Tenant Laws

Verified October 1, 2026 Correction October 2, 2026

Check your municipality. Maryland does not preempt local rent regulation — city or county ordinances may impose rent caps, notice periods, and fee limits that are stricter than the state law on this page. Verify your municipality's ordinances before relying on any figure below. Verified local pages: Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Takoma Park.

What the state record says

Maryland does not preempt local rent control, and three sizable programs are active: Takoma Park (rent stabilization since 1981, CPI-based annual allowance), Montgomery County (cap of CPI+3% up to a 6% maximum), and Prince George's County (cap of the lower of 6% or CPI-U+3%). There is no statewide rent control. Montgomery County's program is Bill 15-23, effective 2024-07-23, and exempts buildings under 23 years old; Prince George's County's is the Permanent Rent Stabilization and Protection Act of 2024, effective 2024-10-17. RP § 8-209.1 acknowledges local rent-limit laws and imposes state reporting duties on jurisdictions that adopt them, while its subsection (e) says the section itself may not be construed to AUTHORIZE local rent caps — a no-new-authorization clause, not a preemption. Local ordinances are outside the scope of this page but are flagged here.

Maryland at a glance

Rule	Maryland	Cited to
Max security deposit	1 month's rent	RP § 8-203 +8 more
Deposit return deadline	45 days	RP § 8-203 +8 more
Rent-increase notice (month-to-month)	60 days	RP § 8-209 +3 more
Statewide rent control / rent cap	No	RP § 8-209 +3 more
Late-fee cap	5% of the amount of unpaid rent due for the rental period for which the payment was delinquent; for weekly-rent leases, $3 per week up to $12 per month (RP § 8-208(d)(3))	RP § 8-208 +3 more
Entry notice	24 hours	RP § 8-221 +2 more
Eviction notice (nonpayment)	10 days	MD Real Property §8-401 +9 more
Application fee cap	No dollar ceiling on the amount charged, but a $25 threshold makes the money refundable.	Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-213 +33 more
Interest owed on deposits	Yes — required by statute	Md. Code, Real Property § 8-203 (security deposits; interest) +4 more
Repair deadline after tenant notice	30 days	Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-211 (rent escrow; serious and dangerous defects) +11 more
Repair and deduct	No — no statute or decision authorizes it	Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-211 (rent escrow; serious and dangerous defects) +11 more
Landlord notice to end a month-to-month tenancy	60 days, to the end of a rental period	Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402 +16 more
Owner and agent identity disclosure	Required — in the lease or by posting	Md. Code Ann., Real Prop. § 8-208 +37 more
In-force state hazard disclosures beyond the federal lead-paint rule	4	Md. Code Ann., Real Prop. § 8-208 +37 more
Pet deposit	Counts inside the general deposit cap	Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203 +14 more
Assistance animals: the state instrument	Housing right, no documentation rule	Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203 +14 more

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Maryland Landlord-Tenant Laws (verified October 1, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/maryland/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Maryland statute it comes from on the linked topic page.

Local rent regulation in Maryland

Maryland law does not preempt local rent regulation, and Takoma Park, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County each operate rent stabilization programs under local home-rule powers.

Cited to Md. Code, Local Gov't § 10-206 (Express Powers Act) · Verified October 1, 2026 · Full Maryland rent-increase rules →

Maryland landlord-tenant laws by topic

Maryland security deposits

Maryland caps security deposits at one month's rent — cut from two months effective October 1, 2024 by the Renters' Rights and Stabilization Act, a change many older guides still miss — with a narrow written-agreement exception to two months for utility-assistance tenants who pay utilities through the landlord; a mobile home park follows its own title, which allows up to two months' rent or $50, whichever is greater.

Maryland rent increase notice

Maryland requires true statewide advance notice of rent increases — since October 1, 2023, RP § 8-209 makes a landlord give a month-to-month tenant at least 60 days' written notice of any increase, and tenants on terms longer than a month get 90 days; only weekly tenancies drop to 7 days (21 without a written lease).

Maryland late fees

Maryland caps residential late fees at 5% of the unpaid rent due for the period the payment is delinquent — and for tenants who pay weekly, at $3 per week with a $12 monthly ceiling.

Maryland entry notice

Maryland's statewide landlord entry-notice law took effect October 1, 2025: written notice at least 24 hours in advance, with entry confined to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday, unless the tenant agrees in writing to another time, so routine entry on a Sunday needs that agreement.

Maryland eviction process

Maryland evicts nonpaying tenants through 'summary ejectment' in the District Court — a written 10-day notice of intent to file, a trial set on the fifth day after filing, and a signature tenant protection: the right of redemption, which lets the tenant cancel the eviction by paying everything the court found due plus costs and fees at any time before the sheriff actually executes the eviction order.

Maryland application & screening fees

Maryland regulates rental application money through a refund rule rather than a price ceiling: a landlord who takes more than $25 in fees from an applicant must hand back everything not actually spent on a credit check or other application expenses, within 15 days of move-in or of written word that no tenancy will occur, or owe twice the fees.

Maryland deposit interest

Maryland requires landlords to pay interest on security deposits, at the greater of the 1-year U.S. Treasury yield curve rate on the first business day of the year or 1.5% a year.

Maryland habitability & repairs

Maryland law requires a landlord to repair and eliminate conditions that are a fire hazard or a serious and substantial threat to the life, health, or safety of the occupants, and, since October 2024, treats every residential landlord as warranting that the rented unit is fit for human habitation.

Maryland lease termination

In Maryland a landlord must give 60 days' written notice before the end of a month-to-month tenancy or a stated term, counted back from the day the tenancy expires rather than forward from the day the notice is delivered.

Maryland lease disclosures

Every Maryland lease must carry a copy of the current Maryland Tenants' Bill of Rights, a habitability statement, the landlord's and tenant's utility and repair obligations, and the security-deposit receipt that tells the tenant about the move-in inspection.

Maryland pets & assistance animals

A Maryland landlord may charge pet rent and pet fees in any amount, but a refundable pet deposit is part of the ordinary security deposit and has to fit inside the one-month-rent cap.

Maryland mobile home park laws

Maryland's Mobile Home Parks Act of 1980, Title 8A of the Real Property Article, governs the tenancy of a resident who owns the home and rents the lot beneath it in a park of two or more sites, and its centerpiece is a one-year lease: the park owner must offer every year-round resident an agreement of at least a year and must offer a further year to a qualified resident before the term runs out, eviction is limited to four listed grounds on thirty days' written notice, changing the use of the land takes a year's written notice to every resident plus a relocation plan filed with the county or city, and closing a park with more than ten sites means paying each household a full year's rent in relocation assistance.

Maryland Fair Market Rents (FY 2027) — HUD's benchmark rents for every Maryland metro area and county.

Editable Maryland deposit kit · Editable Maryland disclosure packet — editable documents built on the verified Maryland rules on this page, in Word, fillable PDF and Excel.

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (October 1, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).

Correction, October 2, 2026 — City and county pages. San Diego: a sentence said the city has never limited the amount a landlord may charge; the city has capped utility pass-through fees since August 17, 2025, and the sentence now says only that the Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance does not limit rent. Jersey City: a note now says that Ordinances 25-099 and 25-105 of 2025 are law but not yet printed in the published code, which still shows the earlier section 260-6(C) and has no section 260-21. Montgomery County, Maryland: Bill 8-26 on rent-setting algorithms is listed for a committee worksession on October 5, 2026 and expires December 7, 2026 if not enacted. District of Columbia (pets): the emergency act that applies the rental rules expires November 11, 2026, and the Council's legislative record projects that the permanent act becomes law on November 20, 2026; the page states both dates and what happens between them if the Council does not act.

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the Maryland General Assembly site (mgaleg.maryland.gov). October 1, 2026: every section the security deposit, rent increase, late fee, entry and eviction answers rest on was read there in the text in effect that day. The site's default view prints the text in effect on January 1, 2026, so each section a later act amended was read in the view that includes those enactments. The sections: Real Property §§ 8-203, 8-203.1, 8-208, 8-209, 8-209.1, 8-210, 8-213, 8-216, 8-221, 8-401, 8-402, 8-402.1, 8-406, 8-407 and 8-901 to 8-905; for mobile home parks, §§ 8A-404, 8A-704 and 8A-1001; Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 7-301; and General Provisions § 1-302. The chapter laws behind them were read on the same site, each passage the act strikes settled on the code page: 2023 ch. 146, 2024 ch. 124, 2025 chs. 564 and 580, and 2026 chs. 494 and 754. Interest mechanics were read on the Department of Housing and Community Development's deposit-interest calculator page, and the local rent-stabilization programs on the Takoma Park, Montgomery County and Prince George's County government pages.