Maryland Landlord-Tenant Law for DIY Landlords (2026)

Security deposits, late fees, entry notice, the 10-day rent notice and the failure to pay rent timeline in Maryland, in plain English for landlords who manage their own rentals.

Last updated September 23, 2026

Maryland moved a lot of goalposts on October 1, 2024. The Renters' Rights and Stabilization Act (HB 693) cut the security deposit cap in half, raised court filing surcharges and put those surcharges on the landlord. Then on July 1, 2025 every residential lease in the state picked up a new attachment. If your lease template predates all that, it is out of date.

Here is what a small landlord in Maryland has to get right, with the code section behind each rule.

Security deposits

The cap is one month's rent. A deposit cannot exceed the equivalent of one month's rent per dwelling unit (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203). It was two months before October 1, 2024. There is a narrow exception for a tenant receiving utility assistance, who can agree in writing to two months.

Overcharging costs you three times the excess. A tenant can recover up to three times the extra amount charged, plus reasonable attorney's fees (§ 8-203).

Give a receipt, and put it in the lease. The receipt has to spell out the tenant's inspection rights, the 45-day deadline and the treble damages exposure. Skip it and you owe the tenant $25 (§ 8-203.1). Keep a copy for two years after the tenancy ends.

Hold it in a Maryland escrow account within 30 days. The money goes into an interest-bearing account at a federally insured institution in Maryland, devoted exclusively to security deposits, within 30 days of receipt. Insured certificates of deposit or federal or state securities are the alternative (§ 8-203).

Interest belongs to the tenant. Interest accrues at the greater of 1.5% a year or the daily U.S. Treasury yield curve rate for one year, taken as of the first business day of the year. It runs at six-month intervals on deposits of $50 or more held at least six months (§ 8-203).

Both inspections are the tenant's right. A tenant can ask to walk the unit with you within 15 days of moving in to record existing damage. At the other end, a tenant who sends you certified mail at least 15 days before moving out can attend the move-out inspection, and you have to hold it within five days either side of the stated move date and tell the tenant the date in writing (§ 8-203).

You have 45 days to return it. The clock starts at the end of the tenancy. Send the balance with accrued interest. If you keep any of it, send a written list of the damages claimed and an itemized statement of what each one cost, by first-class mail to the tenant's last known address, inside the same 45 days (§ 8-203).

Miss the list and you lose the money. Failing to send the written list inside 45 days forfeits your right to withhold anything. Withhold without good cause and a tenant can recover up to three times the amount held back, plus attorney's fees (§ 8-203).

Late fees

Five percent is the ceiling. A lease cannot set a late payment penalty above 5% of the rent due for the period that went unpaid. On weekly rent the limit is $3 a week and $12 a month (§ 8-208(d)).

The fee has to be written into the lease to exist at all. Maryland's code sets no statutory grace period, so the date the fee attaches is whatever your lease says, subject to that 5% cap.

Rent increases and rent control

Maryland has no statewide rent control and no statewide ban on local rent control. Counties and cities decide for themselves.

Montgomery County runs a rent stabilization program covering county-licensed rental units at least 23 years old. Increases taking effect from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 are capped at 5.2%. Units in Gaithersburg, Rockville, Takoma Park, Barnesville and Laytonsville sit outside the county program and follow their own rules. Check your jurisdiction before you send any increase.

The state code sets no separate notice period for a rent increase. On a month-to-month tenancy the practical route is the 60-day termination notice below, offering new terms. One limit worth knowing is that a lease cannot force a tenant to accept notice of a rent increase electronically. The tenant has to elect that (§ 8-208(d)).

Entering the unit

Twenty-four hours, in writing. You have to give the tenant written notice at least 24 hours before you intend to enter, and enter only between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, or another time the tenant agrees to in writing (§ 8-221).

Emergencies to protect or preserve the property are the exception, and no notice is needed there. A tenant can seek an injunction and damages if you get it wrong, and you are on the hook for your agents' entries too.

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

Sixty days. Notice has to land at least 60 days before the tenancy expires (§ 8-402(c)).

Week-to-week runs on 7 days with a written lease and 21 days without one. Year-to-year runs on 90 days, and a farm tenancy on 180.

When rent isn't paid

You cannot walk straight into court. Give the tenant written notice of your intent to file a failure to pay rent complaint, giving them 10 days to cure (§ 8-401). Delivery can be first-class mail or a copy affixed to the door, or electronic delivery if the tenant chose email, text or a portal.

The failure to pay rent case, step by step

Ten-day notice. Serve it and keep proof of how and when (§ 8-401).
File. File a written complaint in the District Court for the county where the property sits. It names the tenants, the rent and late fees owed, and the date you gave notice (§ 8-401).
Trial. The summons sets trial for the fifth day after filing (§ 8-401).
Judgment. If the court finds rent due and unpaid, it orders possession given to you within 4 days after trial (§ 8-401).
Warrant of restitution. The warrant can issue after the 7 days following judgment. Order it within 60 days of judgment or the judgment for possession is stricken, and act on it within 60 days of issue (§ 8-401).
Redemption. The tenant can stop the eviction by paying all past due amounts the court sets plus awarded costs and fees, any time before the eviction is actually carried out. That right falls away if the tenant already has three possession judgments in the past 12 months (§ 8-401).
Appeal. Either side has 4 days from the judgment to appeal to circuit court (§ 8-401).

Court surcharges from the 2024 act are yours to absorb. A lease provision shifting them to the tenant is prohibited (§ 8-208).

Retaliation is its own trap. Filing to evict, raising rent arbitrarily, cutting services or ending a periodic tenancy within 6 months of a protected tenant act can cost you up to three months' rent plus attorney's fees and costs (§ 8-208.1).

Repairs and habitability

Maryland's rent escrow statute covers conditions that are a fire hazard or a serious and substantial threat to life, health or safety. Missing heat, light, electricity or running water, failed sewage disposal, rodent infestation across two or more units, and structural defects all qualify. Peeling paint and missing carpet do not (§ 8-211).

The tenant triggers it with certified mail listing the defects, actual notice to you, or an agency violation notice. You get a reasonable time to fix it, and the statute treats more than 30 days from notice as presumptively unreasonable. A court can put rent into escrow, abate it, order the repairs, end the lease and award the tenant fees (§ 8-211).

The Tenants' Bill of Rights

Since July 1, 2025 you have to attach the current DHCD version of the Maryland Tenants' Bill of Rights to every residential lease, unedited (Md. Code, Hous. & Cmty. Dev. §§ 5-101 through 5-104, Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208). DHCD reissues it on an annual cycle, so pull a fresh copy each time you renew a lease.

The short version

Deposit cap of one month's rent, returned with interest inside 45 days
Written damage list and itemized costs inside those same 45 days, or you keep nothing
Late fees capped at 5% of the rent for the period, no statutory grace period
24 hours' written notice to enter, 7am to 7pm Monday through Saturday
60 days' notice to end a month-to-month tenancy
10-day written notice before you file for failure to pay rent, then trial on day 5
Tenant can redeem by paying in full right up to the eviction itself

Let Taz handle the paperwork

Taz is an AI property manager for landlords who would rather not live in the code books. It tracks the 45-day deposit clock, sends rent reminders, takes maintenance requests day and night, and keeps the records a Maryland District Court judge would ask for. See how Taz works.

Where this guide says a state has no rule on something, that means we found no statute setting one, which is not the same as none existing. Local ordinances and court practice can add requirements. Confirm anything you plan to rely on.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Laws change, and your city or county may add rules. Talk to a Maryland attorney before acting on a specific situation. Last checked September 2026.