Maryland Landlord Tenant Laws: 2026 Guide

Maryland landlord tenant laws changed more in the last two years than in the previous two decades, and a lot of independent landlords in the Baltimore-DC corridor are still operating on outdated assumptions. The Renters' Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024 cut the security deposit cap in half, added a mandatory notice step before you can file for nonpayment, and Montgomery County layered a rent stabilization law on top of it all. If you own a rowhome in Baltimore, a duplex in Frederick, or a rental in the DC suburbs, the rules that apply to you depend on both state law and, in some counties, local ordinances that state-level guides tend to skip.

This guide covers what actually changes your bottom line: deposit limits and interest, late fee and application fee caps, the eviction timeline, Maryland's unusual lead paint registration requirement, Montgomery County's rent stabilization rules, and the source-of-income protections that affect whether you can screen out a voucher holder.

Security Deposit Rules: The New One-Month Cap and Interest Requirement

For any lease signed on or after October 1, 2024, Md. Code, Real Property § 8-203 caps the security deposit at one month's rent per unit, regardless of how many tenants are on the lease. That is a significant cut from the previous two-month ceiling, and it applies no matter how many units you own — there is no small-landlord exemption here the way there is in states like Georgia. If you are still using a lease template written before the change, check your deposit line before you sign a new tenant.

Maryland also requires you to pay interest on deposits of $50 or more that you hold for six months or longer. The rate is simple interest at the greater of the U.S. Treasury yield curve rate for one-year securities (as of the first business day of the year) or 1.5% annually, and it accrues monthly from the start of the tenancy. When the tenancy ends, you have 45 days to either return the full deposit with accrued interest or send a written, itemized list of deductions along with any remaining balance. Miss that window or wrongfully withhold funds, and you can be liable for up to three times the amount improperly withheld, plus the tenant's attorney's fees.

Documentation is your best defense in a deposit dispute. A move-in inspection with photos, dated and signed by both parties, is what actually decides a contested deduction — not your memory of the unit's condition eight months later. Our guide to normal wear and tear versus damage walks through what you can and cannot deduct, and Vantric's prorated rent calculator is useful for getting move-in and move-out math right when a tenancy doesn't start or end on the first of the month.

Late Fees and Application Fee Limits

Maryland caps late fees at 5% of the unpaid rent, not the full monthly rent figure, under Md. Code, Real Property § 8-208. If a tenant owes $1,800 and pays $1,500 on time, the most you can charge as a late fee is $15 — 5% of the $300 shortfall, not $90. The fee also has to be written into the lease before it's enforceable, and it can only apply once per late payment, not as a daily or stacking penalty.

Application fees are capped at $25 per applicant under Md. Code, Real Property § 8-213. If you own five or more rental units and a prospective tenant hands you a screening report generated within the last 30 days, you cannot charge an application fee at all for that applicant — you have to accept or evaluate that report instead of running a duplicate check at their expense. That rule makes it worth understanding what you're actually looking at before you accept someone else's report; our guide to portable tenant screening reports covers how to spot a report that's been altered or doesn't match the applicant.

The Eviction Process: Notice to Quit and the Right of Redemption

Maryland calls its eviction proceeding a "failure to pay rent" action, and the process changed meaningfully under the same 2024 legislation that cut the deposit cap. Before you can file, Md. Code, Real Property § 8-401 now requires you to send the tenant a written notice of intent to file, stating the amount owed, and give them 10 days to pay before you go to the District Court. This is new: Maryland used to let landlords file for nonpayment without any pre-filing notice at all, and skipping this step now gets a case dismissed as premature.

Once the 10 days pass without payment, the process runs roughly like this:

File the complaint in the District Court for the county where the property sits.
Service and hearing. The court schedules a hearing, typically 5 to 10 days after the complaint is filed for straightforward nonpayment cases.
Judgment. If the court rules in your favor, it enters a judgment for possession, and you can request a warrant of restitution — you generally have up to 60 days from judgment to do so.
Final notice and eviction. Once the warrant issues, you must give the tenant at least 6 days' written notice before the scheduled eviction date, delivered by mail, posted on the door with a dated photo, and by email or text if you have that contact information on file.

Maryland also gives tenants a right of redemption: if a tenant pays everything owed — rent, late fees, and court costs — before the sheriff physically carries out the eviction, they can stay. Budget for the full timeline to run anywhere from three weeks for an uncontested case to several months if the tenant contests or appeals, and never attempt a self-help eviction. Changing locks, shutting off utilities, or removing belongings without a court order and a sheriff present is illegal in Maryland and exposes you to civil damages regardless of how much rent is owed.

Lead Paint Registration: Maryland's Unique Requirement for Pre-1978 Rentals

This is the requirement most out-of-state or first-time Maryland landlords miss entirely. If your rental was built before 1978, you must register it with the Maryland Department of the Environment's Lead Poisoning Prevention Program within 30 days of acquiring the property — this is on top of, not instead of, the federal EPA lead-based paint disclosure form required for any pre-1978 lease nationwide.

Registration has to be renewed every two years by December 31, and as of January 1, 2026, the renewal fee doubled from $30 to $75 for the two-year cycle. You also have to distribute tenant educational materials at lease signing and again every two years, and have the unit inspected and certified by a Maryland-accredited lead inspector to confirm there's no flaking paint or lead dust. Skipping registration doesn't just risk a fine — an unregistered unit can lose access to the liability protections the law otherwise gives compliant landlords if a lead exposure claim comes up. If you bought an older property recently and haven't checked its registration status, the MDE's online lookup is the first thing to check before you sign a new lease.

Montgomery County Rent Stabilization: What DC-Suburb Landlords Need to Know

If your rental sits in Montgomery County — Rockville, Silver Spring, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, and the surrounding area — a countywide rent stabilization law applies on top of everything else in this guide. The law, which took effect in 2024, caps annual rent increases on most county-licensed rental units that are at least 23 years old (a building is 23 years old on January 1 of the 23rd year after the "year built" listed with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation).

The allowable increase is tied to the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area Consumer Price Index plus 3%, capped at 6% — whichever is lower. The county set that allowance at 6% for the 2024 cycle and lowered it to 5.7% for the July 2025 to June 2026 cycle. You're required to give written notice of any rent or fee increase at least 90 days before it takes effect, longer than the 30- or 60-day notice period many landlords assume applies statewide. If your operating costs have genuinely outpaced the capped increase — a major capital improvement, a big jump in insurance or taxes — you can apply to Montgomery County for a "fair return" increase above the cap, but that requires documentation and a formal application, not just a letter to the tenant.

None of this applies if your rental is outside Montgomery County, and even within the county, newer buildings under 23 years old are exempt. But if you're a Scaling Sarah type expanding a portfolio from Baltimore into the DC suburbs, checking whether a prospective purchase falls under this cap before you underwrite the deal matters as much as checking the roof. Running the numbers with Vantric's rental calculator before you commit to a purchase is a lot cheaper than finding out about a 5.7% increase ceiling after you've already signed.

Source-of-Income Protections and Required Disclosures

Maryland's Housing Opportunities Made Equal Act added source of income — including Housing Choice Vouchers, VA Supportive Housing vouchers, and other public assistance — to the list of protected classes under Md. Code, State Government § 20-705. That means you cannot refuse an applicant, advertise "no Section 8," or otherwise screen someone out purely because their income includes a voucher. Baltimore City has its own overlapping fair housing protection, and Montgomery, Frederick, and Howard counties have each adopted their own source-of-income ordinances as well, while Baltimore County has not passed a countywide version as of 2026. If accepting vouchers is new territory for you, our guide on whether landlords have to accept Section 8 covers how voucher payments actually work and what you can still screen for legally.

Beyond source of income, Maryland requires you to disclose lead paint status (covered above), any known defects that affect habitability, and — depending on the jurisdiction — a rental licensing number, since many Maryland counties and municipalities require a rental license separate from state registration. Check with your specific county or city before you list a unit; a missing local license can delay or bar an eviction filing even if every state-level requirement is met.

Common Mistakes Maryland Landlords Make

The mistakes that cost Maryland landlords the most money are rarely dramatic — they're procedural gaps that surface at the worst possible time:

Filing for nonpayment without the 10-day notice of intent. Since this requirement is new as of October 2024, landlords who haven't updated their process get cases dismissed and have to restart the clock.
Charging a two-month deposit on a lease signed after October 1, 2024. Old lease templates are the most common cause of this — audit yours if you haven't already.
Forgetting to renew lead paint registration. The two-year renewal cycle is easy to lose track of across multiple properties, and the fee just increased.
Assuming statewide rules cover Montgomery County. The 90-day notice period and rent increase cap only apply there, but landlords who own across multiple counties sometimes apply the wrong notice period everywhere.
Skipping a written move-in inspection because the deposit is small. A one-month deposit is still subject to the same 45-day return and treble-damages exposure as the old two-month cap was.

When to Bring in a Maryland Attorney

Routine Maryland landlord tasks — a compliant lease, a proper 10-day notice, an uncontested failure-to-pay-rent filing — are manageable without legal help if you're organized. Get an attorney involved when a tenant contests an eviction, when a deposit dispute includes an accusation of bad-faith withholding, when a source-of-income or fair housing complaint is filed, or when you're not sure whether a specific county's rental licensing or rent stabilization rules apply to a property you're buying. Our guide on when you need an attorney for landlord-tenant issues breaks down typical costs and how to find affordable help for a case that doesn't need a big-firm retainer.

Staying compliant across a state deposit cap, a county rent stabilization law, and a biennial lead paint renewal is a lot to track by memory once you own more than one property. Explore Vantric's free landlord tools to model cash flow with the rental calculator, check returns with the cap rate calculator, or start a free trial to track deposits, lease dates, and renewal deadlines across every Maryland property you own.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Maryland landlord-tenant law includes county- and municipality-level requirements beyond what's covered here, and laws change periodically. Consult a qualified Maryland attorney for guidance on your specific situation.