Landlord Atlas

Can a landlord charge for a pet in Maryland, and what does the law require for an assistance animal?

Verified September 21, 2026 Correction October 2, 2026 All Maryland topics →

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.

Cited to Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203 (a)(3), (b)(1)–(4), (e), (g), (i)(3) and 14 more cited sources · Verified September 21, 2026

Since October 1, 2025 the landlord of any residential rental property must publish the property's pet policy — a link on the property's website where there is one, and a copy or summary in any rental application form — and the policy must state any breed and weight restrictions, any up-front non-refundable pet fees, refundable pet deposits and monthly pet fees, any limit on the number of pets, and any vaccination and liability insurance requirements. A landlord who knows a tenant has a dog or cat must also give the tenant a link to the State's pet-care fact sheet when the lease is signed. No extra rent, fee or deposit may be charged for a service dog, a retired service dog or another trained service animal, and a lease clause banning dogs does not apply to them; neither bar reaches an emotional support animal, which is left to the ordinary duty to make reasonable accommodations. Maryland sets no documentation standard and has no penalty for faking an assistance animal. No statute restricts breed, size or weight limits for pets as such, though since October 1, 2026 any pet policy can be challenged under the State fair-housing law if it has a discriminatory effect on a protected group and the landlord cannot meet the statutory defense.

Maryland pets & assistance animals at a glance

Which law governs The money answer is in the Real Property article: section 8-203 defines a security deposit by what the money does rather than what it is called and caps it at one month's rent, and section 8-210, subsection (c), in force since October 1, 2025, names up-front non-refundable pet fees, refundable pet deposits and monthly pet fees and requires a landlord to disclose them. The lease paperwork is in the same article, at section 14-804 for the pet-care fact sheet and section 8-210 for the pet policy, with a Montgomery County rule for elderly tenants at section 8-214. The assistance-animal answer is in two different articles: the fair-housing subtitle of the State Government article, section 20-706, which carries a service-dog housing right, a charge bar and the general accommodation duty; and the State's white cane law in the Human Services article, sections 7-701 to 7-709, whose housing limb at section 7-704, subsection (c), reaches any trained service animal and a trainer with an animal in training. The insurance disclosure is in the Insurance article at section 19-206.1, and the dog-bite liability rule for a landlord is in the Courts and Judicial Proceedings article at section 3-1901. Since October 1, 2026 the fair-housing subtitle's general section, section 20-705 of the State Government article, also bars acting in a manner that has a discriminatory effect because of a protected characteristic, whatever the intent, which is how a neutral-looking pet charge or breed limit can be challenged in Maryland.
Where in the state the answers differ Two rules on this page apply in part of the State only or to part of the market only. Section 8-214 of the Real Property article is a State statute that applies only in Montgomery County, and then only to a landlord who offers more than three dwelling units on one parcel or at one location, and only to a tenant aged sixty or over; Montgomery County's own code carries a wider rule for elderly or disabled tenants, which belongs to the county page. The fair-housing subtitle does not reach the rental of a single-family dwelling let without any broker or agent and without advertising, and the white cane law's housing limb does not reach a home whose occupants let out not more than one room. Everything else on this page is statewide and unconditioned.
Which landlords are covered Every residential landlord for the money and disclosure rules. The deposit section, the pet-policy disclosure and the fact-sheet duty carry no unit threshold and no owner-occupied exclusion, and the pet-policy duty binds the landlord of any residential rental property — a five-unit threshold in one version of the 2025 bill was amended out before it passed. Two neighboring thresholds belong to other rules and not to this page: the application-fee section does not apply to a landlord offering four or fewer units on one parcel or at one location, or to seasonal or condominium rentals, and the Montgomery County elderly-pet section reaches only landlords with more than three units. The assistance-animal rights have their own narrow exclusions, described below.
Pet deposit

Yes — no pet figure exists, but a pet deposit is a security deposit however it is named and counts inside the general deposit cap.

Maryland has no pet-deposit figure. A refundable pet deposit is simply a security deposit, because the statute defines one as any payment of money given to a landlord to protect against unpaid rent, damage from a breach of the lease, or damage to the premises, common areas, major appliances and furnishings — what the lease calls the money does not matter. So a pet deposit fits inside the one-month cap rather than sitting on top of it, and charging more exposes the landlord to up to three times the extra amount plus attorney's fees, in an action brought at any time during the tenancy or within two years after it ends. The Code does now name pet money: since October 1, 2025 a landlord's pet policy must state any up-front non-refundable pet fees, refundable pet deposits and monthly pet fees. No deposit at all may be required for a service dog, a retired service dog or a trained service animal, but neither of those bars reaches an emotional support animal.

Refundability: A pet deposit that is a security deposit must be returned within forty-five days after the tenancy ends, with simple interest at the greater of the one-year Treasury yield curve rate as of the first business day of the year or 1.5 percent a year, less any damages rightfully withheld (section 8-203, subsection (e)). A landlord who fails to send the itemized list of damages within forty-five days loses the right to withhold any of it for damages, and withholding without a reasonable basis exposes the landlord to up to three times the amount withheld plus attorney's fees. Since October 1, 2025 a refundable pet deposit must also be disclosed in the property's pet policy.

The general deposit cap it sits against: One month's rent per dwelling unit, regardless of the number of tenants (section 8-203, subsection (b), paragraph (1)). Two months is allowed only on an unrelated route: the tenant qualifies for utility assistance through the Department of Human Services, the lease requires the tenant to pay for utilities directly to the landlord, and both agree in writing to the amount (paragraph (2)). A tenant may instead buy a surety bond, and a deposit and bond together may not exceed two months' rent per dwelling unit (subsection (i)). The deposits page carries the rest.
Pet rent and pet fees

Yes — pet rent or a pet fee may be charged, and no statute caps it.

Maryland caps nothing here. There is no dollar limit, no percentage, no reasonableness test and no general bar on non-refundable move-in charges; what the State requires is that the charges be visible before a tenant applies. Since October 1, 2025 the landlord of any residential rental property must provide a link to the property's pet policy on the property's website where there is one, and a written copy or summary of the policy in any rental application form, and the policy itself must state any breed and weight restrictions, any required fees including up-front non-refundable pet fees, refundable pet deposits and monthly pet fees, any limit on the number of pets, any vaccination requirements, any liability insurance requirements, and any other requirements the landlord imposes on pet owners. No additional rent or fee may be required for a service dog or a retired service dog, and no extra compensation for a trained service animal. Since October 1, 2026 a pet charge, like any other housing practice, can be challenged under the fair-housing subtitle if it has a discriminatory effect because of a protected characteristic, subject to the statutory defense (State Government article, section 20-705).

Monthly pet rent: Monthly pet rent is lawful and has no ceiling. The Code names it — a pet policy must state any monthly pet fees (section 8-210, subsection (c), paragraph (2)) — and regulates nothing about it except that it be disclosed. There is no reasonableness standard and no remedy other than the disclosure duty itself.

A one-time pet fee: An up-front, non-refundable pet fee is named in the same list and is equally uncapped. One adjacent section is worth knowing about without overstating it: a landlord who offers five or more dwelling units on a parcel and takes from a prospective tenant any fee other than a security deposit above $25 must return the fee within fifteen days of occupancy or of a decision that no tenancy will happen, keeping only what was actually spent on a credit check or other expenses arising out of the application, on pain of double damages (section 8-213). Whether that reaches a non-refundable pet fee taken before the tenancy begins has not been decided by a Maryland court, and this page does not state it as a rule.
Pet policy in the lease, and changing it mid-tenancy

Yes — a prescribed lease term or agency form must carry the pet terms.

Maryland has two pet-paperwork duties and neither requires a landlord to allow pets. At the execution of a lease, a landlord who knows that a tenant has a pet must include with the lease a link to the Department of Agriculture's fact sheet about caring for and protecting pets if the tenant is evicted or loses possession of the property, a duty that has applied since November 1, 2023; a pet there means a domesticated dog or cat (sections 14-801 to 14-804). Separately, since October 1, 2025, the landlord of any residential rental property must publish the property's pet policy — a link on the property's website where there is one, and a written copy or summary in any rental application form — and the policy must state the six things listed above, from breed and weight restrictions through liability insurance requirements. Nothing supplies a default when the lease says nothing about pets, nothing governs a change to a pet rule mid-term, and Maryland has no pet mandate for publicly financed housing: a 2024 bill that would have created one for developments receiving State tax credits died in committee and was not filed again. One class does have a mandate, in Montgomery County only, and it is stated as its own row below.

Number limits: No statute limits the number of animals. The disclosure duty assumes the landlord may set one and requires the pet policy to state any limit on the number of pets allowed in a unit (section 8-210, subsection (c), paragraph (2)). In Montgomery County, where an elderly tenant has a right to keep a household pet, the landlord may still make reasonable rules about the type, size and number of pets (section 8-214, subsection (e)).
Breed, size and weight restrictions

Yes.

No Maryland statute limits a landlord's breed, size or weight rule, in any housing class. The one place the word breed appears in the whole Real Property article is the 2025 disclosure duty, which tells a landlord to state any breed and weight restrictions — the Legislature has recently legislated on the assumption that such rules are lawful. Nor does the State stop a county from writing its own breed rules: counties have express power to license dogs and to deal with dangerous dogs, and nothing in the landlord-tenant subtitle preempts a local pet or breed ordinance. One related point often stated wrongly: a landlord's exposure for a tenant's dog is breed-neutral. For a person other than the dog's owner, the common law of liability for a dog attack as it stood on April 1, 2012 is retained without regard to the breed or heritage of the dog (Courts and Judicial Proceedings article, section 3-1901, subsection (b)), which undid the breed-specific rule an appellate decision had created. The service-dog and service-animal rights described below override a no-dogs lease clause, but they are not written as breed carve-outs. Since October 1, 2026 one general law can reach a breed, size or weight limit indirectly: the fair-housing subtitle bars acting in a manner that has a discriminatory effect, meaning an effect that actually or predictably has a disparate impact on a group of persons, or creates, increases, reinforces or perpetuates segregated housing patterns, because of disability, race or another protected characteristic. A landlord has not violated that bar only where the action was without discriminatory intent, was necessary to achieve a substantial, legitimate and nondiscriminatory interest, and that interest could not have been achieved by less discriminatory means (State Government article, sections 20-701 and 20-705).

Size and weight: Size and weight are in the same position as breed: nothing limits them, and the disclosure duty expressly contemplates them by requiring the pet policy to state any breed and weight restrictions.
Assistance animals: the state instrument and who it binds

Yes — a disability-title housing right, with no documentation rule. The operative rules are statutory. State law incorporates a federal statute or codified regulation by reference.

Maryland gives a trained animal a housing right rather than a documentation rule, and it does so twice. Under the fair-housing subtitle a person may not discriminate in the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to an individual with a disability who has or obtains a service dog or who keeps a former service dog after its retirement; that individual is exempt from any lease provision prohibiting the keeping of dogs, may not be required to pay any additional rent or fee for the dog, may keep a retired service dog in the dwelling for the rest of the dog's life, and is liable for any damage the dog does to the premises (State Government article, section 20-706, subsections (b), paragraph (6), and (d)). Under the white cane law an individual with a disability, a parent of a minor child with a disability, or a service animal trainer accompanied by an animal being trained is entitled to the same access as the general public to housing accommodations in the State and to full and equal access to housing, may not be required to pay extra compensation for the animal, and may be liable for damage it causes (Human Services article, section 7-704, subsection (c)). Neither law says anything about documentation. Beside them sits the ordinary fair-housing duty, in the same words as the federal act: a person may not refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services when they may be necessary to afford an individual with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling (section 20-706, subsection (b), paragraph (4)). For an animal that is not trained — an emotional support animal — that general duty is the whole of Maryland's own law, and whether a landlord must waive a pet charge is decided request by request.

Who it binds: Almost every landlord, and the exceptions are narrower than they look. The fair-housing subtitle does not apply to the sale or rental of a single-family dwelling let without a real estate broker, agent or salesperson, without anyone in the business of selling or renting dwellings, and without any advertisement or posted notice (State Government article, section 20-704, subsection (a), paragraph (1)); being the owner of a dwelling occupied by five or more families is itself being in that business, which narrows the exception further. The subtitle's owner-occupied exceptions — renting rooms in the owner's principal residence, and renting an apartment in an owner-occupied building of not more than five units — are limited by their own words to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, military status and source of income, so they do not reach disability: those landlords still owe the service-dog rights and the accommodation duty. The white cane law's housing limb has one exception of its own: it does not apply to accommodations or a single-family residence whose occupants let out not more than one room (Human Services article, section 7-704, subsection (c), paragraph (1)). The deposit section, the pet-policy disclosure and the fact-sheet duty have no exceptions at all.
What counts as an assistance animal Maryland defines the trained animal twice and the untrained one never. A service dog is a dog individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, and it expressly does not include a dog whose presence is meant to deter crime or one that provides only emotional support, well-being, comfort or companionship (State Government article, section 20-706, subsection (a), paragraph (3)). A service animal, the term the white cane law and the criminal harm provision both use, is a guide dog, signal dog or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including guiding a person with impaired vision, alerting a person with impaired hearing to an intruder or to sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, picking up dropped items, or detecting the onset of a seizure (Human Services article, section 7-701, subsection (g)) — that one is not limited to dogs. The same law defines a service animal trainer, professional or volunteer, and defines housing accommodations as real property offered for compensation and used or intended to be used as a residence or lodging. Disability means different things in the two places: the fair-housing subtitle has its own definition, while the white cane law takes the federal Americans with Disabilities Act's. The terms assistance animal, support animal and emotional support animal are not defined anywhere in Maryland law.
Documentation a landlord may request, and what a certifier must meet

No state text sets a documentation standard for an assistance animal in housing.

Maryland sets no documentation standard for an assistance animal. Nothing says what a landlord may ask, who may write a letter, how recent it must be, whether an online certificate counts, whether a form or proof of vaccination may be required, or how quickly a landlord must answer; and no Maryland health-care provider owes a duty or faces discipline over such a letter. That silence is not for want of knowing how: the same landlord-tenant subtitle prescribes, word for word, a physician's or psychologist's certification for ending a lease early on medical grounds, down to the letterhead and the signature. For a service dog or a trained service animal the question rarely bites, because the right does not depend on paperwork. For an animal that is not trained, the landlord and tenant are left with the ordinary reasonable-accommodation practice under the fair-housing subtitle and the federal layer behind it.
Charges for an assistance animal

Under state law, yes — the state bar reaches only a trained service, guide, hearing or assistance dog, or a certified animal; the federal rules still govern an emotional support animal; the bar is an express no-extra-charge clause, in a statute.

Two charge bars, both limited to trained animals. A person with a disability who has, obtains or keeps a service dog, including a retired one, may not be required to pay any additional rent or fee for it, and is exempt from a lease clause banning dogs (State Government article, section 20-706, subsections (d), paragraphs (1) and (2)). A person with a disability, a parent of a child with a disability, or a service animal trainer accompanied by a trained service animal or an animal in training, may not be required to pay extra compensation for it (Human Services article, section 7-704, subsection (c), paragraph (4)); that second bar covers any trained animal, not only a dog. Because the bars are written as no additional rent or fee and no extra compensation, they cover a pet deposit as well as pet rent without a separate sentence. Neither reaches an emotional support animal: the service-dog definition excludes a dog that provides only emotional support, well-being, comfort or companionship by name, and the service-animal definition turns on individual training. For an untrained animal, Maryland has no text at all, and a fee waiver would have to be argued as a reasonable accommodation. This is the most misstated Maryland answer in circulation.

The definition it hangs on: "'Service dog' means a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability", and it "does not include a dog that: 1. as a result of the animal's presence, is meant to deter crime; or 2. provides only emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship to an individual" (Md. Code, State Gov't § 20-706(a)(3)); the second bar runs on "a guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability" (Human Services § 7-701(g)).
Damage caused by an assistance animal

The tenant is liable for damage the animal causes like any other tenant, by express words.

The tenant stays liable, and both statutes say so. A person who keeps a service dog or a retired service dog is liable for any damage the dog does to the premises (State Government article, section 20-706, subsection (d), paragraph (4)), and a person accompanied by a service animal may be liable for damage the animal causes to the premises or facilities (Human Services article, section 7-704, subsection (c), paragraph (4)). Neither law shifts that liability away from the handler in housing; in public places, where the animal is one a trainer is raising, the law puts it on the organization that certifies the animal, and there is no matching sentence for housing. For an ordinary pet in Montgomery County the elderly-tenant section says the same thing in its own words.
Misrepresenting an assistance animal

None — no offense, penalty, forfeiture, eviction ground or licensing sanction exists.

Maryland has no offense, civil penalty, forfeiture or eviction ground for misrepresenting an animal as a service or assistance animal, and none for a professional who writes a false letter. No bill proposing one was filed in any of the last four legislative sessions. Two provisions are often mistaken for one. The criminal law punishes willfully and maliciously killing, injuring or interfering with a service animal — up to two years or a $2,500 fine for killing or injuring, up to one year or $1,000 for interference, with restitution that can include the animal's value, retraining, veterinary and medical costs and the handler's lost wages — but that is about harming an animal, in any setting, not about claiming one. The white cane law's fines are for denying access. Neither may be published as a misrepresentation penalty.

The landlord-side offense: The offenses Maryland does have run against the person who blocks the animal. Denying or interfering with the admittance of a service animal is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 for each offense, and up to $25 for each offense where the animal is one being trained (Human Services article, section 7-705, subsection (e)); interfering with a blind, visually impaired, deaf or hard-of-hearing individual's rights under that subtitle, which is where the housing right sits, is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 for each offense, with a civil action for an injunction beside it (section 7-707). The fair-housing subtitle's service-dog rights carry no penalty of their own and are enforced as housing discrimination.
Can cities add their own rules

Yes, within the powers state law names in this row.

Maryland leaves the field open to local government and says so twice. The fair-housing subtitle expressly preserves local ordinances on anything it covers, provided they do not authorize discrimination, and a separate section lets a resident of Howard, Montgomery or Prince George's County sue directly on the county's own discrimination code, with real-estate claims exempt from the forty-five-day wait that employment and public-accommodation claims must observe. Since October 1, 2026, in every county other than Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George's, a complaint to the State Commission on Civil Rights satisfies any local requirement to exhaust remedies before suing on a county or local discrimination law. Counties also hold express power over dog licensing and dangerous dogs, and charter counties have full power to enact local laws within their granted powers. There is no preemption clause anywhere in the landlord-tenant subtitle, and a more stringent local law can displace a State section outright in at least one place. Montgomery County has its own pet rule for elderly and disabled tenants, which is wider than the State section that applies only in that county; Prince George's County has long had a breed-specific dog ordinance, which State law does nothing to stop. Those city and county rules are on the locality pages.

Localities may add protected classes or fair-housing rules: The fair-housing subtitle is a floor, not a ceiling: it does not affect the power of any local government to enact an ordinance on any subject the subtitle covers, so long as the ordinance does not authorize an act that would be a discriminatory housing practice under it, and it does not limit a local law giving a person with a disability greater access (section 20-703). Howard County, Montgomery County and Prince George's County run their own discrimination codes, and a person subjected to an act the county code prohibits may sue for damages, an injunction or other relief within two years; a real-estate claim may be brought at once, while employment and public-accommodation claims must wait forty-five days after a complaint to the county unit or, since October 1, 2026, to the State Commission on Civil Rights (section 20-1202). In every other county except Baltimore County, a complaint filed with the State Commission on Civil Rights now satisfies any requirement a county or local unit imposes to exhaust remedies before suing under a county or local discrimination law (section 20-1204). Text: Md. Code, State Gov't § 20-1202 · (a)–(d).

Another express grant: Maryland counties legislate on dogs and on rental housing under powers the State grants them. A charter county's council has full power to enact local laws on all matters covered by the express powers granted to it, subject to the Constitution and the State's public general laws (Constitution, Article XI-A, section 3), and the Local Government article gives counties express power to adopt regulations for licensing dogs, kennels and pet shops and for seizing and dealing with unlicensed or dangerous dogs. Nothing in the landlord-tenant subtitle preempts a local pet, fee or breed rule; where the subtitle speaks to local law it does the opposite, letting a comparable local law that is more stringent or broader supersede the State section. Text: Md. Const. art. XI-A, § 3.
Housing classes with their own pet rule Montgomery County: elderly tenants of landlords with more than three units (another housing class): pets must be allowed, subject to the stated conditions. A State statute that applies only in Montgomery County gives an elderly tenant — someone aged sixty or over — the right to keep a household pet unless keeping one was specifically prohibited in writing at the time occupancy took place; the landlord it binds is an owner who offers more than three dwelling units on one parcel or at one location (Real Property article, section 8-214). The tenant is liable for any damage the pet does to the premises, and the landlord may still make reasonable rules about the type, size and number of pets, about disposal of waste, and about pet conduct and control to protect the health and safety of other tenants and the landlord's property. Montgomery County's own code carries a wider version of the same idea, reaching elderly or disabled tenants; both are in force and they are different instruments, so a reader in that county should check the county page as well. Text: Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-214 · (a)–(e).
Insurance and dog breeds Md. Code, Insurance § 19-206.1 — Maryland does not stop an insurer from excluding dogs by breed; it makes the insurer say so. An insurer offering a homeowner's or renter's policy in the State that does not cover losses caused by specific breeds or specific mixed breeds of dogs must give the applicant or the insured written notice, at application or issuance and at every renewal, saying that the policy does not cover such losses and identifying the breeds and mixed breeds it excludes (section 19-206.1, subsections (a) and (b)). The notice may ride the annual statement and may be sent electronically. The section reaches homeowner's and renter's policies only, not a landlord's own liability policy, and anyone who cites it as a ban on breed-based underwriting has it backwards. Policy types it reaches: homeowner and renter. Text: Md. Code, Insurance § 19-206.1 · (a)–(d).
How state law refers to the federal rules Maryland borrows federal law in three places in this topic's reach, and one of them decides a right. The white cane law defines disability as the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 defines it, so the whole housing right and charge bar for a trained service animal runs on a federal definition rather than the State's own (Human Services article, section 7-701, subsection (d)). The fair-housing subtitle treats compliance with the federal accessibility law, regulations and guidelines adopted under the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, as the State's housing department has adopted them, as satisfying its design and construction standard — an accessibility rule, not an animal rule (State Government article, section 20-706, subsection (c)). The Commission on Civil Rights' regulations incorporate the federal accessibility guidelines for employment and public accommodations. No HUD notice and no joint statement is incorporated anywhere in the fair-housing subtitle, the white cane law, the Real Property article or the Commission's regulations. The federal section of the 50-state page carries the federal layer, which for an emotional support animal in Maryland is where the answer comes from.
Changes already signed into law No signed act is waiting to change these answers
Leading court decisions None carried — the answers rest on the statutes and rules cited

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Maryland Pet & Assistance Animal Laws (verified September 21, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/pets/maryland/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Maryland assistance-animal documentation at a glance

The state's instrument sets no documentation standard, so every row below reads not stated unless a slot is addressed elsewhere in state law; the federal rules further down this page apply on top. The full text of each slot, with its section, is in the table above.

Slot What the state's text says
Who may certify, and on what test Not stated
The certifier's minimum relationship period Not stated
Telehealth Not stated
Online registration or certificate Not stated
Form Not stated
Medical records Not stated
Written answer from the landlord Not stated
Annual re-evaluation Not stated
Proof of vaccination or licensing Not stated

Housing classes in Maryland with their own pet rule

Each row is a housing class whose own instrument sets at least one pet cell differently from the private-market answers above; a dash is a cell the class's instrument does not set, so the residential answer on this page does not carry over to it either way. The full text of each row is in the table above.

Class Pet deposit Pet rent and fees In the lease Breed, size, weight Extra charge for an assistance animal From
Montgomery County: elderly tenants of landlords with more than three units (another housing class) — — Pets must be allowed — — —

Local pet laws in Maryland

Federal law on pets and assistance animals, in every state

The federal layer for the pets and assistance-animals topic, carried once for the whole site. It is a dated history rather than a single rule: the Fair Housing Act's accommodation duty has not changed since 1988 and the regulation under it has never contained the word animal, while the HUD guidance that most writing on this subject still quotes was withdrawn in September 2025, permanently rescinded in May 2026, and replaced by an enforcement position that governs HUD's own cause determinations and nothing else. Every row names who it binds, and most of the rows that carry real figures bind only federally assisted, public or rural-development housing. No state record restates these rows; a state record says only where its own law references or extends them. Each row below says who it binds before it says what it does. The full text of each row, with its citations, is on the 50-state page.

Notes and caveats

Common questions: Maryland pets & assistance animals

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

Can a landlord charge a pet deposit in Maryland, and is there a limit?
Yes — no pet figure exists, but a pet deposit is a security deposit however it is named and counts inside the general deposit cap. Maryland has no pet-deposit figure.
Can a landlord charge pet rent or a non-refundable pet fee in Maryland?
Yes — pet rent or a pet fee may be charged, and no statute caps it. Maryland caps nothing here.
Does a Maryland lease have to state a pet policy?
Yes — a prescribed lease term or agency form must carry the pet terms. Maryland has two pet-paperwork duties and neither requires a landlord to allow pets.
Can a Maryland landlord restrict pets by breed, size or weight?
Yes. No Maryland statute limits a landlord's breed, size or weight rule, in any housing class.
Does Maryland have its own assistance-animal law for rentals?
Yes — a disability-title housing right, with no documentation rule. The operative rules are statutory.
What documentation can a Maryland landlord ask for when a tenant requests an assistance animal?
No state text sets a documentation standard for an assistance animal in housing. Maryland sets no documentation standard for an assistance animal.
Can a Maryland landlord charge a pet deposit or pet rent for an emotional support animal?
Under state law, yes — the state bar reaches only a trained service, guide, hearing or assistance dog, or a certified animal; the federal rules still govern an emotional support animal; the bar is an express no-extra-charge clause, in a statute. Two charge bars, both limited to trained animals.
What is the penalty for falsely claiming an assistance animal in Maryland?
None — no offense, penalty, forfeiture, eviction ground or licensing sanction exists. Maryland has no offense, civil penalty, forfeiture or eviction ground for misrepresenting an animal as a service or assistance animal, and none for a professional who writes a false letter.

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (September 21, 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).

Citations

How this record was verified: Direct reading of the Maryland Code in the General Assembly's own whole-article files, together with its section view. Maryland prints no edition banner, no currency statement and no credit line on any surface of its code, so dating here rests on three other official instruments: the General Assembly's bills master lists for 2017, 2018, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, filtered on each bill's own mapping of the article and section it amends; the enrolled chapter documents with their own effective-date sections; and the Department of Legislative Services' fiscal and policy notes. One host trap governs every quotation here: the article files the General Assembly publishes for the 2027 session print the text as amended by the 2026 acts, with no flag, while on October 1, 2026 the default section view still served the earlier text. Current law on this page is therefore the 2026-session article file plus every 2026 act whose own effective date has arrived; the two 2026 chapters in this topic's reach took effect October 1, 2026, and the sections they changed, State Government sections 20-701, 20-702, 20-705, 20-1202, 20-1203 and 20-1204, were read that day in the 2027-session article file and in the section view that includes new enactments. Read in full: the Real Property article, in the 2022 through 2027 editions, for the deposit, disclosure, fact-sheet, application-fee and Montgomery County sections; the State Government article, 2026 and 2027 editions, for the fair-housing subtitle; the Human Services article for the white cane law; the Criminal Law article for any misrepresentation or animal offense; the Health Occupations article for any duty on a certifier, of which there is none; and the Insurance, Courts and Judicial Proceedings, Local Government and Agriculture articles for the insurance notice, the dog-bite liability rule and the counties' powers. Seven enrolled chapters were read with their effective-date sections — the 2023 service-dog act and pet protections act, the 2024 renters' act, the two 2025 chapters of the pet policy disclosure act approved May 13, 2025 and effective October 1, 2025, and the two 2026 chapters that took effect October 1, 2026 — and the fiscal note on the enrolled 2025 house bill was used to settle what the final text says, because the strike-through marks in Maryland's chapter documents do not survive conversion to text. The Commission on Civil Rights' regulations at COMAR 14.03.01 through 14.03.05, the housing department's rental housing program rules at COMAR 05.05 and the housing rules at COMAR 10.16 were read chapter by chapter; the fair housing chapter carries an administrative history showing it was last revised April 18, 2011. The Constitution's local legislation article was read at the State Archives. The state appellate opinion archive was searched five times for animal, service-dog and pet-charge decisions in the Maryland courts.

What was read to state each absence on this page: