What are the security deposit rules in Maryland?

Verified July 9, 2026 All Maryland topics →

Check your municipality. Maryland does not preempt local rent regulation — city or county ordinances may impose rent caps, notice rules, and fee limits that are stricter than the state-level rules on this page and are not covered here. Verify your municipality's ordinances before relying on any figure below.

What the state record says

No statewide rent control — but Maryland is a non-preemption state, and three sizable local programs are active: Takoma Park (rent stabilization since 1981, CPI-based annual allowance), Montgomery County (Bill 15-23, eff. 2024-07-23, cap of CPI+3% up to a 6% max, buildings under 23 years old exempt), and Prince George's County (Permanent Rent Stabilization and Protection Act of 2024, eff. 2024-10-17, cap of the lower of 6% or CPI-U+3%). 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 out of scope v1 but flagged on-page.

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.

The deposit must sit in a federally insured Maryland branch account and earn simple interest at the greater of 1.5% or the one-year Treasury yield rate, calculated monthly (the state DHCD publishes an official calculator). Within 45 days of the tenancy ending the landlord must return the deposit with interest, and any damage claim requires a written itemized list of damages and actual costs mailed first-class within those same 45 days — miss the list and the right to withhold is forfeited entirely. Withholding without a reasonable basis exposes the landlord to up to three times the withheld amount plus attorney's fees, overcharging above the cap carries its own treble penalty, the written receipt (now required in the lease itself) carries a $25 penalty, and tenants who give 15 days' certified-mail notice have the right to attend the move-out inspection.

Maryland security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit	1 month's rent — RP § 8-203(b)(1), as rewritten by the Renters' Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024 (HB 693, Ch. 124, eff. 2024-10-01): a landlord 'may not impose a security deposit in excess of the equivalent of 1 month's rent per dwelling unit, regardless of the number of tenants.' One narrow exception (b)(2) allows up to 2 months when ALL of: the tenant qualifies for utility assistance through the Department of Human Services, the lease has the tenant paying utilities directly to the landlord, and the parties agree to the amount in writing. Overcharging lets the tenant recover up to three times the extra amount charged plus attorney's fees (b)(3).
Return deadline	45 days
Deadline conditions	Within 45 days after the end of the tenancy the landlord must return the deposit with accrued interest, less damages rightfully withheld (§ 8-203(e)(1)). Any damage claim must be sent within the same 45 days: a written list of claimed damages with an itemized statement of costs incurred, by first-class mail to the tenant's last known address (§ 8-203(g)(1)). Failure to send the (g) list forfeits the right to withhold any part of the deposit.
Itemization required	Yes
Itemization rules	Written list of damages claimed plus an itemized statement of the actual costs incurred, mailed first-class to the tenant's last known address within 45 days of termination (§ 8-203(g)(1)). The tenant also has a certified-mail-triggered right to attend the move-out inspection: if the tenant notifies the landlord by certified mail at least 15 days before moving (with date and new address), the landlord must give certified-mail notice of an inspection held within 5 days before or after the move date (§ 8-203(f)).
Separate account required	Yes
Interest owed to tenant	Yes
Account & interest rules	Deposits must be held in federally insured financial institutions doing business in Maryland, in branches located in-state, deposited promptly after receipt (§ 8-203(d)). Interest is simple, non-compounded, accruing at monthly intervals from the day the deposit is paid, at the GREATER of the daily U.S. Treasury yield curve rate for 1 year (as of the first business day of the year) or 1.5% per year — owed only on deposits of $50 or more held at least 6 months, with no interest for any period less than a full month (§ 8-203(e)). The state DHCD publishes an official calculator landlords may rely on. A tenant may alternatively purchase a surety bond in lieu of all or part of the deposit (§ 8-203(i)).
Pet deposits	No pet-specific deposit statute; any pet deposit is part of the security deposit and fits inside the 1-month cap, which applies 'regardless of the number of tenants' and however the funds are labeled.
Non-refundable fees allowed	Not addressed by statute
Penalty for violation	Three separate treble exposures: (1) overcharging above the cap — up to 3x the extra amount charged plus attorney's fees (§ 8-203(b)(3)); (2) failing, WITHOUT A REASONABLE BASIS, to return the deposit plus interest within 45 days — up to 3x the withheld amount plus attorney's fees (§ 8-203(e)(4)); (3) the receipt failure penalty — $25 for failing to give the written deposit receipt (§ 8-203.1). Failure to send the 45-day itemized damage list forfeits the right to withhold anything.
Tenant forwarding-address duty	No duty gates the return itself, but the move-out-inspection right requires the tenant's certified-mail notice at least 15 days before moving, stating the move date and new address (§ 8-203(f)(1)).

Notes and caveats

The 1-month cap is the dataset's premier stale-source trap for MD: nearly every source dated before October 2024 — and many still-circulating 50-state charts — say 2 months. The (b)(2) utility-assistance exception is new and obscure; encode it to preempt 'the cap has no exceptions' overcorrections. Precision point from the full-text read: the (e)(4) treble penalty requires withholding 'without a reasonable basis' — it is not strict liability like MA. HB 693 also reorganized § 8-203.1 (the $25 receipt penalty moved subsections; older mirrors cite (b), current official text (c)) and made the receipt mandatory IN the written lease. nonrefundable_fees_allowed is null: no statute squarely authorizes or bans nonrefundable move-in fees; fee-disclosure regulation failed in the 2026 session (HB 80 passed the House, died in Senate Judicial Proceedings at Sine Die — a likely 2027 refile to watch). The tenant surety-bond alternative (§ 8-203(i)) is unusual and worth page copy.

Statute citations

RP § 8-203 (b), (d), (e), (f), (g), (i) Official source
RP § 8-203.1 Official source
HB 693 (2024), Ch. 124 — Renters' Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024 Official source
Maryland DHCD security deposit interest calculator Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Maryland General Assembly site (mgaleg.maryland.gov): Real Property §§ 8-203 (read in full twice — independent fetches matched verbatim), 8-203.1, 8-208, 8-209 (read twice), 8-209.1, 8-221 (read twice), and 8-402. Session-law provenance verified on official mgaleg bill pages: HB 693 (2024) / Ch. 124 (deposit cap cut, eff. 2024-10-01), HB 151 (2023) / Ch. 146 (§ 8-209 rent-increase notice, eff. 2023-10-01), HB 1076 (2025) / Ch. 564 (§ 8-221 entry notice, eff. 2025-10-01), and HB 80 (2026) status. Interest mechanics cross-checked against the Maryland DHCD official deposit-interest calculator page; local rent-stabilization programs confirmed on official Takoma Park, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County government pages.