Maryland Landlord-Tenant Law

Maryland (State) Lease Agreements

Rental Application Fees

The State of Maryland limits application fees to $25. Any amount over actual the cost of credit check must be refunded.

Required Lease Disclosures

• Notice of rights regarding inspection before and after tenancy
• Notice of Habitability with all defects disclosed alongside who will be responsible for fixing (landlord or tenant)

Montgomery County (Washington D.C.) Lease Agreements

Criminal Background Checks

Landlords can only conduct criminal background checks after a conditional offer ot rent has been made.

Security Deposits

In Montgomery County, security deposits must be placed in an interest-earning account.

Additional Requirements

• Montgomery County Landlord-Tenant Handbook must be presented to tenants with each party signing it.
• A tenant’s Initial lease term must be at least two years in duration. If less than two years, a reasonable explanation must be given (i.e., you planning on selling property in a year).

Late Fees

Rent is due in full on the first day of each month. If rent isn’t received on or before the 10th day of the month, you may charge your tenant a late fee of 5% of the unpaid rent amount.

Non-Refundable Fees

Montgomery County does not allow non-refundable fees be charged to tenant, such as pet fees or deposits, move-in fees, cleaning fees, etc. unless such fees are part of certain condominium community bylaws.

There is a 90-day notice requirement for any rent increases or lease renewals. 60-days notice is required for any non-renewal of the lease.

Trash

Montgomery County law requires landlords to pay for trash removal and provide receptacles for multi-family properties. For single family properties, you must pay for trash removal, but you don’t have to provide the bins. If your property is not located in a county trash collection district, your tenant can pay for trash collection if provided by a private trash hauler. 

Lease Disclosures

• For any property constructed before 1978 and not individually metered, all shared gas and electric utilities must be disclosed along with the formula used to divide the cost.
• Window Guard Disclosure
  • Install window guards in all multi-family units on all operable windows if there’s a child under age 11 present or upon request.
• Smoke Alarms
  • Check and replace all 10+ year old smoke detectors with lithium ion-sealed 10-year batteries.

Baltimore Lease Agreements

Security Deposits

All security deposits must be placed in an interest-earning account.

You must notify your tenants of their rights of inspection before and after lease termination.

Smoke Alarms

Check and replace all 10+ year old smoke detectors with lithium ion-sealed 10-year batteries.

Required Lease Disclosures

• Shared Utilities
  • If any water/wastewater utility costs are shared by tenants for the property, the specific formula used to calculate tenant’s share of the expense and the average monthly allocated costs of water and wastewater services in the preceding 12 months must be included. 
• Flood Zone
  • If the landlord knows, or if the city or some other governmental agency has notified the landlord of the fact that the premises, storage, or parking area is located within a floodplain, then the landlord must disclose this.

•  Floodplain is defined as a flat or low land area adjacent to a river or stream that is subject to partial or complete inundation, an area subject to unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface waters from any source, or an area subject to tidal surge or extreme tides.
• If the property is in a flood zone, you must present this statement:
  • “The rental unit you are to occupy or the motor vehicle parking area or separate storage facility you are to use (as the case may be) is situated in an area prone to flooding during unusually heavy or prolonged steady periods of rain. Such flooding may damage personal belongings and motor vehicles. Because of this possible loss, you may be eligible for U.S. Government subsidized flood insurance on the personal belongings in your unit. In any event, because of this danger of loss of your personal belongings due to flooding, you may wish to consider acquiring flood insurance which may be purchased from some insurance agents.
  • Damage to motor vehicles may not be covered by such insurance; therefore you may also wish to determine whether or not you have sufficient motor vehicle insurance to cover loss due to damage of your motor vehicle resulting from flooding in this area.
  • The Baltimore City Department of Planning can provide information pertaining to the susceptibility of this area to flooding. You may wish to contact that Department, before signing this acknowledgment contained within the lease agreement for this rental unit.”

Build a Maryland lease agreement in less than 15 minutes.

Maryland Lease Agreement Sample

There are three sections to a residential lease agreement. The first section outlines the custom details of the contract, such as who’s involved and for what address. Here’s an example Maryland lease agreement listing details found in Section 1: