Maryland Eviction Process: Notice Periods, Timeline, and Costs

Real Property § 8-401(c) requires a written notice of intent to file, on Maryland Judiciary form DC-CV-115, and the tenant has 10 calendar days from the date you provide it to cure. The form must state the rent and late fees claimed, is captioned to make clear it is not a notice of eviction, and on the tenant's request you must promptly provide an itemized rental ledger. Notice is legally provided when sent by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, affixed to the door of the premises, or — only if the tenant elected it — sent by email, text message, or electronic tenant portal with proof of transmission. Your complaint must state and affirm the date notice was given, the tenant may challenge that assertion, and the court may dismiss the complaint on a showing of sufficient cause.

Real Property § 8-402.1 requires 30 days' written notice that the tenant is in violation of the lease and that you desire to repossess, cut to 14 days where the behavior demonstrates a clear and imminent danger of serious harm to the tenant, other tenants, the landlord, the landlord's property or representatives, or anyone else on the property. The statute applies only to an unexpired lease for a stated term that lets the landlord repossess on breach. There is no statutory cure period, but the court will grant possession only if it finds the breach was substantial and warrants eviction.

Real Property § 8-402(c)(2) requires written notice of intent to terminate 60 days before the tenancy expires for a month-to-month tenancy or a written lease for a stated term, 90 days for year-to-year, and 7 days with a written lease or 21 days without one for week-to-week. The 60-day rule applies statewide to every landlord; the carve-out in § 8-402(c)(4) naming Baltimore City, Montgomery County, and landlords offering five or more units limits only the shortened notice available when the property is in foreclosure, not the 60-day rule itself. Maryland has no statewide just-cause requirement, but local jurisdictions can add protections, so confirm local law before serving notice.

Under the official District Court cost schedule (DCA-109, Rev. 03/2026), Failure to Pay Rent is $50 in every county except Baltimore City, where it is $60, plus a $5 service fee for each tenant of record; breach of lease and tenant holding over are $56, or $66 in Baltimore City. A warrant of restitution carries no filing fee outside Baltimore City, where it is $10, plus a $40 sheriff or constable service fee per case.

Maryland does not require the tenant to file a written answer — under § 8-401(b)(4) the District Court sets trial for the fifth day after the complaint is filed and the tenant appears to show cause. The Judiciary tells tenants they are not required to attend, but a tenant who does not appear will usually have judgment entered against them.

Budget 10 days for the notice, trial on the fifth day after filing, 4 days for the tenant to surrender possession, and a 7-day wait before the court will issue the warrant of restitution, then 6 days' written notice to the tenant under § 8-407 before the sheriff's scheduled date. Getting the sheriff or constable on the calendar is normally the longest and least predictable step, and the judgment for possession is stricken if you do not order the warrant within 60 days.

Real Property § 8-216 bars a landlord from taking or threatening to take possession by locking the tenant out or by willful diminution of services — intentionally interrupting heat, running water, hot water, electricity, or gas to force a tenant to abandon the unit. You may retake possession only under a warrant of restitution issued by a court and executed by a sheriff or constable, or after the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the unit. A tenant who prevails recovers actual damages plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs, and those remedies are not exclusive; the only narrow exception lets you take temporary measures such as changing locks to secure an unsecured property if you make good faith efforts to notify the tenant and promptly restore possession.

The Renters' Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024 (HB 693), effective October 1, 2024, raised the District Court summary ejectment surcharge from $8 to $43 — assessed against the landlord and barred from being passed to a residential tenant — extended the minimum wait between the judgment of possession and issuance of the warrant of restitution from 4 days to 7 days, capped security deposits at one month's rent, and required the Maryland Tenants' Bill of Rights to be attached to residential leases. The current Failure to Pay Rent filing fee is $50, or $60 in Baltimore City, under DCA-109 (Rev. 03/2026), and the § 8-406 rental licensure pleading requirement has applied since October 1, 2023.

Real Property § 8-406 requires you to plead with supporting facts, and prove at trial by a preponderance of the evidence, that the property is licensed under applicable local rental licensing requirements or is exempt — an expired or missing license can sink an otherwise clean case, and the court must grant one postponement if licensure is contested. Maryland is unusual in expressly allowing a non-lawyer to represent a landlord in a summary ejectment case: Business Occupations and Professions § 10-206(b)(1) exempts that from the unauthorized practice of law rules, so an LLC member or property manager can appear, though the case still has to be tried in District Court. Two errors are widespread online: sites still quoting a $15 or $25 filing fee are using the pre-2024 schedule, and sites claiming the 60-day month-to-month notice drops to 30 days in Baltimore City or Montgomery County, or for landlords with five or more units, are misreading § 8-402(c)(4), which limits only the shortened foreclosure notice. The most common procedural mistakes are using an outdated DC-CV-115, sending the notice electronically when the tenant never elected electronic delivery, keeping no certificate of mailing or date-stamped door photo, skipping the § 8-407 six-day pre-eviction notice, and letting the warrant of restitution lapse past 60 days.

• Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-401
• Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402
• Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-402.1