Free Maryland Residential Lease Agreement

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A configurable Maryland residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to the Real Property Article, Title 8 — the one month’s rent deposit cap, the 45-day return with a threefold penalty, and the 24-hour entry rule Maryland only acquired in 2025.

Maryland Real Prop. 8-101 Tenants Bill of Rights Free PDF 2026 Edition

A Maryland residential lease agreement is the written contract governed by the Real Property Article, Title 8 of the Annotated Code of Maryland, at 8-101 and following, with the security deposit rules at 8-203 and the summary ejectment procedure at 8-401 to 8-407. Maryland rewrote large parts of that title between 2024 and 2026, and almost every template still in circulation predates the rewrite. The deposit cap is now one month’s rent per dwelling unit, not two. Every written lease must carry a copy of the Maryland Tenants Bill of Rights. The state acquired its first statutory entry rule on 1 October 2025 — 24 hours‘ written notice, and entry only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. There is a statutory warranty of habitability, a tenant right of first refusal on small properties, a mold pamphlet duty, and, since 1 June 2026, an air-conditioning duty in larger apartment buildings that the General Assembly’s own statute reader has not yet published.

Complete the fields below to generate a Maryland residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, including the utility allocations that 8-208(c)(2) makes mandatory lease content, the deposit receipt that 8-203(c)(2) requires to sit inside the lease, and each disclosure you check — and the generated lease cites the controlling Maryland section at each point. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening, and pair the signed lease with a Maryland move-in / move-out checklist, because the written list of damages made at the start of the tenancy is what 8-203.1(a)(1) exists to produce.

Maryland recognizes the usual range. A fixed-term lease runs for a stated period and expires on its own terms, though Real Prop. 8-402(c)(2)(i) still requires the landlord to give sixty days’ written notice of an intent to terminate before a written lease for a stated term of more than one week expires. A month-to-month tenancy renews each month until one side ends it on sixty days’ notice. A week-to-week tenancy is the shortest periodic form Title 8 addresses, and it carries its own split notice rule: seven days where the parties have a written lease, twenty-one days where they do not. A year-to-year tenancy takes ninety days, and a farm tenancy other than a tobacco farm tenancy takes a hundred and eighty.

Where a tenancy simply carries on after the term ends, Real Prop. 8-402(d) supplies the default and it is worth reading twice. If the landlord consents to the holdover tenant staying, the tenant becomes a periodic week-to-week tenant if that is what the tenant was before, and a periodic month-to-month tenant in every other case — unless the written lease says otherwise and the tenant has initialled that statement. A lease that quietly converts a holdover into a fresh twelve-month term without a tenant initial does not work in Maryland.

Two structural rules sit above all of this. Real Prop. 8-208(a) provides that a landlord who offers five or more dwelling units for rent in the State may not rent a residential dwelling unit without using a written lease; where such a landlord does not, the term is presumed to be one year from the tenant’s first occupancy unless the tenant ends it earlier on one month’s written notice. And Real Prop. 8-208(b) requires a landlord who rents on a written lease to give any prospective applicant, on written request, a complete copy of the proposed lease form — everything except the date, the tenant’s name and address, the designation of the premises and the rate — without requiring execution or any deposit. An applicant in Maryland is entitled to read the lease before committing to anything.

A commercial lease is outside the residential provisions of Title 8, and the difference bites in a place people rarely expect: Real Prop. 8-401(e)(2)(v) allows a court to award attorney’s fees in a summary ejectment only in a nonresidential tenancy, and only where the lease authorises it. A sublease and a roommate agreement sit under the head lease and do not displace it. For a ground lease of ninety-nine years renewable forever, and for larger multifamily and mobile home developments, Real Prop. 8-402.2 supplies a separate possession route with its own six-month arrears trigger and forty-five-day notice.

One month’s rent per dwelling unit, regardless of the number of tenants. Real Prop. 8-203(b)(1) says exactly that, and it has said it since 1 October 2024, when Chapter 124 of the Acts of 2024 — the Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act — cut the cap from two months to one. Two of the pages currently ranking for this query still tell Maryland landlords they may charge two months’ rent.

There is exactly one exception, and all three of its conditions must be satisfied together. Under 8-203(b)(2) the deposit may reach two months’ rent only where the tenant is eligible for and has qualified for utility assistance through the Department of Human Services, the lease requires the tenant to pay for utility services directly to the landlord, and the tenant and landlord agree in writing to the amount. Miss any one of the three and the cap is one month.

What counts as deposit money is wider than most templates assume. Real Prop. 8-203(a)(3) defines a security deposit as any payment of money, including payment of the last month’s rent in advance of the time it is due, given to protect the landlord against nonpayment of rent, damage due to breach of lease, or damage to the premises, common areas, major appliances and furnishings. Advance last-month rent is therefore deposit money in Maryland and counts against the cap. So does a refundable pet deposit. The first month’s rent is not deposit money, but Real Prop. 8-208(d)(11) separately prohibits requiring a tenant to pay more than the sum of the 8-203(b) deposit and the first month’s rent in order to commence the lease and occupy the premises — which is how Maryland kills the last-month-plus-deposit-plus-move-in-fee stack.

The penalty for overcharging is not a slap. Real Prop. 8-203(b)(3) gives the tenant an action to recover up to three times the extra amount charged plus reasonable attorney’s fees, and 8-203(b)(4) allows that action at any time during the tenancy or within two years after it ends. Our Maryland security deposit laws guide works through the calculation in detail.

In an interest-bearing account, devoted exclusively to security deposits, at a branch located inside Maryland. Real Prop. 8-203(d)(1) is unusually prescriptive. The institution must be federally insured as defined in Financial Institutions Article 1-101 and must do business in the State. The account must be maintained at a branch located within Maryland. It must be devoted exclusively to security deposits and must bear interest. The deposit must be placed in it within thirty days after the landlord receives it. And the aggregate of the accounts must at all times equal all the deposits the landlord is liable for.

Real Prop. 8-203(d)(2) offers the only alternative: insured certificates of deposit at Maryland branches of federally insured institutions, or securities issued by the federal government or by the State of Maryland, again in an aggregate amount sufficient to cover every deposit held. A landlord who commingles deposits with operating money, or who holds them in an out-of-state account, is outside the statute whether or not a tenant ever complains.

Two protections follow from the segregation. Under 8-203(d)(3)(ii) a security deposit may not be attached by the creditors of either the landlord or the tenant. And where the landlord’s interest is sold or transferred — including in receivership or bankruptcy — the landlord or the landlord’s estate, but not the managing agent or a court-appointed receiver, remains liable for maintaining, withholding and returning the deposit plus interest for anything not actually delivered to the transferee, together with an accounting showing the amount and date of the original deposit, the applicable interest rates and the tenant’s name and last known address. Any successor in interest is liable to the tenant under 8-203(d)(4).

Simple interest at the greater of the one-year Treasury yield or one and one half per cent a year. Real Prop. 8-203(e)(1) requires the deposit to come back with interest accrued at the daily U.S. Treasury yield curve rate for one year, as of the first business day of each year, or one and one half per cent a year, whichever is greater. Because the Treasury limb resets every January, Maryland deposit interest is a formula, not a fixed number, and a page or a lease that prints a percentage is printing something with a shelf life.

Four qualifications matter. Interest accrues at monthly intervals from the day the tenant gives the landlord the deposit, and it is not compounded. No interest is due at all unless the landlord has held the deposit for at least six months. None accrues for any period shorter than a full month. And interest is payable only on deposits of fifty dollars or more.

Maryland then does something almost no other state does: it removes the arithmetic risk from the landlord. Real Prop. 8-203(m) requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to maintain on its website either a list of the daily one-year Treasury yield curve rates as of the first business day of each year, or a customized calculator into which the landlord enters the date the deposit was given, the tenancy end date and the amount. Real Prop. 8-203(n) then provides that a landlord is entitled to rely on that list or that calculator when calculating the interest due. Use the Department’s own tool and the calculation is protected; guess, and it is not.

Forty-five days after the end of the tenancy. Real Prop. 8-203(e)(1) requires the landlord to return the deposit together with accrued interest, less any damages rightfully withheld, within 45 days after the tenancy ends. There is no separate clock started by a forwarding address; the tenancy ending is the trigger.

If any part is withheld, a second duty runs on the same clock. Real Prop. 8-203(g)(1) requires the landlord to present, by first class mail to the tenant’s last known address and within the same forty-five days, a written list of the damages claimed together with an itemized statement of the cost incurred. Real Prop. 8-203(g)(2) is blunt about the consequence of not doing it: the landlord forfeits the right to withhold any part of the security deposit for damages. Not the disputed part — any part.

Since the 2024 Act the itemized statement has to be backed up. Real Prop. 8-203(j)(1) requires it to include supporting documentation that identifies the materials or services provided. A landlord who has not had the work done yet may satisfy that with an estimate under 8-203(j)(2) — but 8-203(k) then attaches conditions: the landlord must notify the tenant in writing when the repairs are complete, must enclose a copy of the final invoice, and must return any withheld amount in excess of the actual cost within thirty days after completing the repairs.

A tenant who was evicted or who abandoned before the end of the tenancy is on a different but parallel track. Under 8-203(h) the ordinary forty-five-day duties do not apply; instead the tenant demands the deposit by written notice sent by first class mail within forty-five days of being evicted or abandoning, specifying a new address, and the landlord then has forty-five days from receipt to send the list, the itemized statement and the balance with interest.

The remedy is the same throughout, and it is the number Maryland tenants know. Real Prop. 8-203(e)(4): where the landlord, without a reasonable basis, fails to return any part of the deposit plus accrued interest within the forty-five days, the tenant has an action for up to threefold of the withheld amount, plus reasonable attorney’s fees. Our Maryland security deposit itemization form and deposit return letter are built to that deadline.

Yes — and the landlord who never mentioned it loses the right to withhold anything for damage. This is the most distinctive rule in Maryland’s deposit statute and the one most likely to be missed by a lease written for another state.

Real Prop. 8-203(f)(1)(ii) gives the tenant the right to be present when the landlord or the landlord’s agent inspects the premises to determine whether any damage was done — conditional on the tenant notifying the landlord by certified mail of the intention to move, the date of moving and the tenant’s new address. Sub-paragraph (iii) requires that notice to be mailed at least fifteen days before the moving date. Sub-paragraph (iv) then puts the ball back in the landlord’s court: on receiving it the landlord shall notify the tenant by certified mail of the time and date of the inspection. Sub-paragraph (v) fixes the window — the inspection must occur within five days before or five days after the moving date the tenant designated.

Then comes the sting. Sub-paragraph (vi) requires the tenant to be advised of these rights in writing at the time the tenant pays the security deposit, and sub-paragraph (vii) provides that failure by the landlord to comply with that requirement forfeits the right of the landlord to withhold any part of the security deposit for damages. The obligation is discharged by the deposit receipt itself: Real Prop. 8-203.1(a) lists the seven statements the receipt must carry, and Real Prop. 8-203(c)(2) requires the receipt to be included in the written lease. That is why the generated lease writes the receipt into the document rather than treating it as an attachment.

There is a mirror-image right at the start of the tenancy. Real Prop. 8-203.1(a)(1) gives the tenant the right to have the unit inspected by the landlord in the tenant’s presence, for the purpose of making a written list of damages existing at the commencement of the tenancy, if the tenant requests it by certified mail within fifteen days of occupancy. A landlord who runs a joint walk-through as a matter of course, and documents it, is protecting the deposit rather than conceding anything.

Real Prop. 8-203(i) lets a Maryland tenant buy a surety bond instead of paying all or part of a security deposit. It is not a small provision — fourteen paragraphs — and not one of the ranking template pages mentions it.

The ground rules first: a landlord may not require the tenant to purchase a bond, and is not required to consent to one. A bond bought instead of a deposit may not exceed two months’ rent per dwelling unit; a bond together with a deposit may not exceed two months’ rent in aggregate; and exceeding either ceiling carries the familiar remedy of up to three times the excess plus reasonable attorney’s fees. On a sale or transfer, the new landlord must accept the existing bond and may not demand an additional deposit during the current term.

Before the tenant buys, the surety must disclose in writing that the premium is nonrefundable; that the bond is not insurance for the tenant; that it protects the landlord against nonpayment, breach and damage; that the tenant may be required to reimburse the surety; that the tenant remains responsible for all unpaid rent, breach damages and damage beyond ordinary wear and tear; that the tenant may pay damages directly or require the landlord to use the security deposit before any claim on the bond; and that a surety which fails to make those disclosures forfeits the right to claim against the tenant.

The claim process has teeth on both sides. At least ten days before making a claim, the landlord must send the tenant, by first class mail, a written list of the damages to be claimed and an itemized statement of costs — with the same supporting-documentation duty that 8-203(j) imposes. The tenant then has ten days to dispute the claim in writing, and a disputed claim may not be reported to a credit reporting agency before the surety obtains a judgment. In an action by the surety, the tenant keeps every defence available against a landlord, and damages may be awarded only to the extent the tenant would have been liable to the landlord. A surety that claims without a reasonable basis faces up to three times the amount claimed plus fees. Bonds may be issued only by an admitted carrier licensed by the Maryland Insurance Administration.

Twenty-four hours, in writing — and Maryland had no rule at all before 1 October 2025. That date is the reason the ranking pages disagree with each other and with the statute. One tells landlords the state “does not provide specific guidelines” but that best practice suggests twenty-four hours. One recommends “twenty-four to forty-eight hours”. One says the landlord “does not have to legally give notice”. One cites Real Prop. 8-101 — a provision about the remedies of a transferee of the reversion, which has nothing whatever to do with entry — for the proposition that a landlord may enter without permission.

The controlling section is Real Prop. 8-221, created by Chapter 564 of the Acts of 2025. It permits entry for six purposes: repairs, maintenance, modifications, renovations or improvements; inspection; showing the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants or contractors; ensuring the protection and safety of the property and occupants; completing work ordered by a governmental entity; and, where appropriate, responding to any other written request of the tenant.

Before entering, 8-221(b) and (c) require the landlord to provide written notice at least twenty-four hours in advance of the intended time, stating the date and approximate time and the specific purpose of entry, and to enter only between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, or another time the tenant agrees to in writing. Delivery is prescribed too: first class mail with a certificate of mailing where sent at least twenty-four hours ahead; paper notice affixed to the door; or, only if the tenant elects it, an e-mail, a text message or an accessible electronic tenant portal, with proof of transmission. The tenant may agree in writing to shorter notice.

Entry without notice is permitted only in an emergency — the imminent protection or preservation of the property, the imminent protection and safety of any occupants, or the health, safety and welfare of other tenants and staff. And the remedy in 8-221(d) reaches beyond a single unlawful entry: a tenant who shows either an entry in violation of the section or repeated demands for entry that do not comply with it may obtain an injunction, damages for breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment — the covenant Real Prop. 2-115 implies into every Maryland lease — or both. The landlord is liable for a violation committed by an agent acting at the landlord’s direction. One duty runs the other way: under 8-221(f), a tenant who alleges a housing code violation must give the landlord access within twenty-four hours of notifying the landlord. Our Maryland notice to enter form is built to the 8-221 contents, and the Maryland landlord entry guide covers the edge cases.

No grace period; a five per cent cap measured on the unpaid rent. Nothing in Title 8 gives a Maryland tenant a statutory grace period. Rent is late when the lease says it is late.

What Maryland does regulate is the size of the penalty. Real Prop. 8-208(d)(3)(i) makes it a prohibited lease provision to provide for a penalty for the late payment of rent in excess of five per cent of the amount of unpaid rent due for the rental period for which the payment was delinquent. Read the base carefully: it is the unpaid rent for that period, not the full monthly rent. A tenant who pays most of the rent on time and leaves a small balance can be charged five per cent of the balance, not of the month. Two ranking pages state the ceiling as five per cent of the monthly rent.

Where rent is paid in weekly instalments, 8-208(d)(3)(ii) sets a different ceiling: no more than three dollars per week or a total of no more than twelve dollars per month.

The consequence of getting it wrong is not merely that the clause fails. Real Prop. 8-208(g)(1) makes a prohibited provision unenforceable by the landlord, and 8-208(g)(2) gives the tenant actual damages including reasonable attorney’s fees where the landlord includes such a provision and tenders a lease containing it, attempts to enforce it, or makes known an intent to enforce it. The trigger is handing over the lease. An out-of-state template with a ten per cent late fee is actionable the moment a Maryland applicant is asked to sign it. The Maryland late fee laws guide works through the arithmetic, and the Maryland late rent notice is the polite step before the statutory one.

Ninety days for a tenancy of more than one month. Real Prop. 8-209 sets a ladder by tenancy type: ninety days for a term of more than one month; sixty days for a term of more than one week but not more than one month; and for a term of one week or less, seven days where the parties have a written lease and twenty-one days where they do not.

The delivery rules are as prescriptive as the timing. The notice must be sent by first class mail with a certificate of mailing, or — only where the tenant has elected it — by e-mail, text message or an electronic tenant portal, in a form that gives the landlord proof of transmission. A landlord may not condition acceptance of a lease application on the tenant electing electronic notice, and Real Prop. 8-208(d)(9) independently makes a lease clause requiring the tenant to accept electronic notice of a rent increase a prohibited provision. Two rules, pointing the same way, and neither appears in any ranking template.

Two limits are worth stating plainly. Section 8-209 does not apply where the landlord has already given written notice of intent to terminate the tenancy under 8-402(c)(2) — you cannot use the rent-increase machinery to reset a termination. And 8-209(c) preserves any local law or ordinance that requires additional notice or gives additional protection, which matters in Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and Baltimore City. Maryland has no statewide limit on the amount of an increase. Our Maryland rent increase notice form is built to the 8-209 ladder, and the Maryland rent increase laws guide covers the local overlays.

Real Prop. 8-208(c) makes four items mandatory content of a Maryland written lease, and the fourth is the one nobody carries.

First, a statement that the premises will be made available in a condition permitting habitation, with reasonable safety, if that is the agreement — or, if it is not, a statement of what the parties did agree about the condition. Second, the landlord’s and the tenant’s specific obligations as to heat, gas, electricity, water and repair of the premises. That is why the utility grid in the form above is not decoration: leaving it blank leaves the lease short of a statutory requirement. Third, a security deposit receipt as specified in 8-203.1, which 8-203(c)(2) requires to be included in the written lease.

Fourth — and this is the requirement no competing Maryland template carries — a copy of the most current version of the Maryland Tenants Bill of Rights published by the Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs in the Department of Housing and Community Development. The Office itself was created by the Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024, as Title 5 of the Housing and Community Development Article, and Hous. and Cmty. Dev. 5-104(a)(1)(i) requires it to develop the document while 5-104(c)(1) requires it to be published on the Office’s website on or before June 1 each year. Because it is reissued annually, the copy attached to a Maryland lease has to be re-checked every year; the edition current at the time of writing is headed “Effective October 1, 2025”.

Two further contents rules sit alongside. Real Prop. 8-208(e) requires an automatic renewal clause with a renewal period longer than one month to be distinctly set apart from every other provision, with a space for the tenant’s written acknowledgment — and makes it unenforceable by the landlord without the tenant’s initials, signature or witnessed mark. And Real Prop. 8-210(a) requires the lease to carry the landlord’s or the authorized agent’s name, address and telephone number, or a conspicuous sign on the property to do so.

Seven that bite in an ordinary tenancy, plus three that are conditional — and the set is nothing like the one multi-state templates carry.

Habitability and condition — 8-208(c)(1), reinforced by 8-212. Mandatory lease content, and since 1 October 2024 it sits on top of a statutory warranty of habitability that cannot be waived because 8-208(d)(2) voids a waiver of any right or remedy provided by applicable law.

Utility and repair obligations — 8-208(c)(2). Heat, gas, electricity, water and repair, allocated specifically between the parties.

Security deposit receipt — 8-203(c) and 8-203.1. Seven prescribed statements, inside the written lease. Omitting the written receipt costs the landlord twenty-five dollars under 8-203.1(c); omitting the inspection-rights advice costs the landlord the entire right to withhold for damage under 8-203(f)(1)(vii).

Landlord and agent identification — 8-210(a). Name, address and telephone number, in the lease or on a conspicuous sign.

Maryland Tenants Bill of Rights — 8-208(c)(4). The most current version, attached.

Mold pamphlet and acknowledgment — 8-220, with Envir. 6-1702. Since 1 July 2025 the landlord must give every tenant the State mold pamphlet at the time the lease is signed, and again on request, and must request a signed acknowledgment of receipt. The Department of the Environment may use the federal “Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home” as that pamphlet. The section then imposes response duties — a mold assessment within fifteen days of written notice that mold has been detected, and remediation within forty-five days of the assessment where feasible, following industry guidelines, with communication to occupants, proper ventilation and low indoor humidity throughout. This is a pamphlet-and-response duty, not a “disclose known mold” duty, which is what circulating Maryland material gets wrong.

Lead risk reduction and the Notice of Tenants’ Rights — Environment Article 6-820, with 42 U.S.C. 4852d. An “affected property” under Envir. 6-801(b) is one built before 1950 with at least one rental dwelling unit and, since 1 January 2015, one built before 1978. The owner must register the property with the Department of the Environment under 6-811, must satisfy the risk reduction standard at each change in occupancy and have it verified by inspection under 6-815, and must give the tenant the Department’s Notice of Tenants’ Rights plus a copy of the current verified inspection certificate upon execution of the lease or the inception of the tenancy, and again at least every two years, by certified mail return receipt requested or another approved verifiable method, with documentation to the Department. Real Prop. 8-215 gives the tenant of a non-compliant affected property an immediate release from the lease plus relocation expenses up to two thousand five hundred dollars, on three business days’ notice; Real Prop. 8-211.1 gives a rent escrow route and presumes any eviction, termination or rent rise within two months of compliance to be retaliatory and void. Our Maryland lead-based paint disclosure form handles the federal layer.

Ratio utility billing — 8-212.4, conditional. Where a master-metered utility is allocated among tenants by a method that does not measure actual usage, eight items must be given to every prospective tenant in writing, including copies of the last two utility bills issued to the landlord, the allocation method by utility, the previous calendar year’s average monthly bill per unit, the right to inspect the landlord’s records, any administrative fee, and a citation to the section itself. Omit them and the lease clause requiring the tenant to pay the allocated charges is unenforceable.

Utility cost disclosure — 8-205.1, conditional. In a building of six or more dwelling units where the tenant pays water, sewer, gas or electric charges to the landlord, the written lease must say so and the landlord must either supply each bill or, before each term, give written notice of the previous year’s total utility costs disaggregated by utility type.

Columbia Association — 8-121, conditional. For Howard County property subject to Columbia Association covenants, the lease must state the annual charge included in the rent and how it is calculated, describe the resident’s rights, and be accompanied by the covenants and governing documents.

Maryland requires no radon disclosure, no flood-risk disclosure, no infestation disclosure, no asbestos disclosure, no methamphetamine history disclosure and no offender-registry notice in a residential lease. Each of those obligations comes from another state’s statute book, and one ranking Maryland template nonetheless lists an infestation disclosure among Maryland’s requirements.

Maryland answered this question twice, in two different decades, and both answers are live.

The older route is rent escrow, Real Prop. 8-211, and its architecture is what makes Maryland distinctive: the remedy runs through the District Court. There is no general repair-and-deduct right in Maryland. The section reaches conditions that constitute, or if not promptly corrected will constitute, a fire hazard or a serious and substantial threat to life, health or safety, and names five: lack of heat, light, electricity, or hot or cold running water except where the tenant’s own non-payment caused it; lack of adequate sewage disposal; rodent infestation in two or more dwelling units; a structural defect presenting a serious and substantial threat to physical safety; and any condition presenting a health or fire hazard. It expressly does not reach cosmetic defects — the statute lists fresh paint, carpets, panelling, small cracks, missing linoleum or tile, and the absence of air conditioning as conditions carrying a rebuttable presumption of non-coverage.

The tenant gives notice by certified mail listing the defects, by actual notice, or by a written violation, condemnation or other notice from a government agency. The landlord then has a reasonable time, and 8-211(g)(3) supplies a rebuttable presumption that more than thirty days is unreasonable. The tenant may then bring an action of rent escrow to pay rent into court, or raise the condition as an affirmative defence to the landlord’s action for rent or possession, or both. Relief is conditioned on proper notice, on paying the lease rent into court unless the court modifies it, and on the tenant not having had three judgments of possession for unpaid rent in the previous twelve months — five for a weekly tenancy. The court may terminate the lease, dismiss, abate the rent, or order the landlord to make the repairs, and may appoint a special administrator to have them done out of the escrow. If no repairs and no good-faith effort are made within six months, the court may release the escrow to the tenant. A successful tenant recovers attorney’s fees, costs and litigation expenses.

The newer route is the statutory warranty of habitability, Real Prop. 8-212, created by the Tenant Safety Act of 2024 and effective 1 October 2024. A landlord offering a residential dwelling unit for rent, by written or oral lease, is deemed to warrant that it is fit for human habitation. The warranty exists at the beginning of the tenancy and continues throughout the term. Its most important feature is 8-212(e): relief for a breach may not be conditioned on payment by the tenant of rent into escrow. That is the practical difference between the two routes. The court may award actual damages, abate rent due and unpaid, or terminate the lease with return of the unused deposit and relocation expenses, and a successful tenant recovers fees, costs and expenses; a bad-faith action exposes the tenant to the same. The defences are narrow: the tenant’s household or guests caused the condition, or the landlord was denied reasonable and appropriate entry to repair it. The Maryland habitability laws guide works through both routes.

In an apartment building of ten or more units, now yes — and the codified statute reader has not caught up. Real Prop. 8-122 was added by Chapter 664 of the Acts of 2026 (Senate Bill 12), approved by the Governor on 26 May 2026 and effective 1 June 2026. On the day this page was verified, the General Assembly’s own statute reader returned “File Not Found” for section 8-122, because it serves the 2023 replacement volume with the 2025 supplement. The section is nonetheless in force, and the enrolled chapter carries it in full.

It applies to residential rental units in apartment buildings with ten or more individual dwelling units, excluding units on property listed on the National Register of Historic Places and two categories of Baltimore City public housing. From 1 June 2026 it reaches newly constructed units, and units that at any time on or after 1 January 2025 the landlord equipped with air-conditioning or was required by a lease to provide it. From 1 October 2026 it also reaches a unit that undergoes a renovation including the replacement or substantial upgrade of the electrical or heating systems.

The standard runs each year from 1 June to 30 September. Where the system is not under the tenant’s control, the landlord must maintain each habitable space at no more than eighty degrees Fahrenheit, measured three feet above floor level. Where it is under the tenant’s control, the landlord must ensure it is in good working order and capable of holding that temperature. The section preempts inconsistent local requirements and does not affect construction or renovation permitted before the effective date.

There is a tension worth naming, because a Maryland lease has to hold both ends of it: Real Prop. 8-211(e)(2)(iv) still presumes that the absence of air conditioning is not a rent-escrow condition, while 8-122 now creates a free-standing statutory duty for larger buildings. The two coexist. A tenant in a ten-unit building whose central system fails in July has an 8-122 claim even though the same failure would struggle under 8-211.

Maryland runs three separate procedures, each with its own notice, and every step is in the District Court. There is no self-help eviction in Maryland — Real Prop. 8-216 makes a lockout or a wilful diminution of services unlawful and gives the tenant actual damages plus attorney’s fees and costs.

Failure to pay rent — Real Prop. 8-401. Before filing, 8-401(c) requires the landlord to give the tenant written notice of intent to file if the tenant does not cure within ten days, on a form created by the Maryland Judiciary, sent by first class mail with certificate of mailing, affixed to the door, or — only if the tenant elected it — electronically with proof of transmission. The complaint must state and affirm the date that notice was given, the tenant may challenge that assertion, and the court may dismiss on a showing of sufficient cause. Trial is on the fifth day after filing. If rent is due, the court awards possession and orders it given within four days of trial, extendable up to fifteen days on a physician’s certificate. If the tenant does not comply within seven days, the court issues a warrant of restitution. A warrant not ordered within sixty days of judgment, or ordered and not acted on within sixty days, expires and the possession judgment is stricken. The Maryland 10-day notice to pay rent or quit is the form that starts it.

Breach of lease — Real Prop. 8-402.1. Where the lease permits repossession before the end of a stated term for a breach, the landlord must give thirty days’ written notice that the tenant is in violation and that the landlord desires to repossess — or fourteen days where the behaviour of the tenant, or of someone on the property with the tenant’s consent, demonstrates a clear and imminent danger of serious harm to themselves, other tenants, the landlord, the landlord’s property or representatives, or anyone else on the property. The court grants possession only if the breach was substantial and warrants an eviction. Our Maryland notice to cure or quit and unconditional quit notice cover both limbs.

Tenant holding over — Real Prop. 8-402. After the 8-402(c) termination notice has run, the landlord complains in writing to the District Court, the court summonses the tenant to show cause, and on finding the tenancy ended and due notice given, awards restitution of possession. A holdover tenant is separately liable for the landlord’s actual damages, and the award may not be less than the apportioned rent for the holdover period at the lease rate. The Maryland notice of non-renewal is the corresponding form.

Before the eviction itself — Real Prop. 8-407. This is the step most often missed. After the warrant of restitution issues, the landlord must give the tenant written notice of the scheduled repossession date at least six days beforehand, by all of first class mail with certificate of mailing, a notice posted on the front door with a date-stamped photograph, and — where the landlord holds them — the tenant’s e-mail address or cellphone number. The notice must carry ten prescribed items, including the case number, the date the warrant was ordered, the initial scheduled eviction date, the amount still needed to redeem where redemption remains available, a statement that this is the final notice even if the eviction is stayed, and the statutory warning about personal belongings with the District Court Help Center details. The landlord may charge no more than five dollars for it. If the sheriff reasonably believes it was not given, the sheriff must notify the court and may not execute; and if the court finds it was not given, the court shall vacate the warrant of restitution. A local jurisdiction may raise the six days to fourteen or lower it to four.

Two more things sit on top of every filing. Real Prop. 8-406 requires a landlord in any jurisdiction that licenses residential rentals to plead and prove that the property is licensed, exempt, or unlicensed for one of three excused reasons. And Real Prop. 8-401(h) gives the tenant a right of redemption: paying all past-due amounts as determined by the court plus court-awarded costs and fees, in cash, certified check or money order, at any time before actual execution of the eviction order, unless three judgments of possession for unpaid rent were entered in the previous twelve months. The Maryland eviction notice laws guide sets out the sequence in full.

Real Prop. 8-402(c) governs tenancies at the expiration of a stated term and year-to-year, month-to-month and week-to-week tenancies. The landlord’s written notice of intent to terminate is sixty days before the expiration of a written lease for a stated term of more than one week, or of a month-to-month tenancy; ninety days before the expiration of the current year of a year-to-year tenancy, including a tobacco farm tenancy; a hundred and eighty days for other farm tenancies; and for a week-to-week tenancy, seven days with a written lease or twenty-one days without one.

The tenant’s side is governed by a rule most leases get backwards. Real Prop. 8-501 provides that no written agreement between a landlord and tenant may require a longer notice period from the tenant than the notice the landlord must give the tenant. A lease demanding ninety days from the tenant while reserving sixty for the landlord is void to that extent. Separately, 8-402(c)(3) lets a tenant outside Baltimore City give at least thirty days’ notice by parol — ninety days for a year-to-year tenancy, a hundred and eighty for a farm tenancy — which, if the landlord proves it by competent testimony, relieves the landlord of giving written notice at all.

Three statutory early exits sit alongside. Real Prop. 8-5A-02 lets a tenant or legal occupant who is a victim of abuse end future liability on written notice enclosing a final protective order, a final peace order, or a report by a qualified third party signed within the preceding sixty days with the alleged perpetrator’s details redacted; the tenant then has thirty days to vacate and owes rent only to the day of vacating, capped at thirty days — provided that a tenant who leaves early sends a signed, notarized confirmation of having vacated. Real Prop. 8-5A-05 requires the landlord to change the locks by the close of the next business day after a written request supported by a qualifying order. Real Prop. 8-212.1 caps an active service member’s liability at rent then due plus thirty days’ rent on a qualifying change of assignment. And Real Prop. 8-212.2 caps liability at two months’ rent where a physician or psychologist certifies, in the statutory form, that the tenant can no longer live in the unit. Our Maryland breaking a lease guide and lease termination laws guide cover each route.

On properties of three or fewer units, yes — and the right cannot be signed away. Real Prop. 8-119, created by the Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024 and effective 1 October 2024, is the single largest addition to Maryland landlord-tenant law in a decade and not one ranking template mentions it.

It applies to a tenant-occupied residential rental property with three or fewer individual dwelling units, and to a tenant who has occupied it for at least six months and is a named lessee in the written lease. Thirteen categories of transfer are excluded — among them a transfer to a family member, to a wholly-owned business entity, by court order, tax sale or foreclosure, by a fiduciary, by testamentary document or inheritance, into a revocable trust, to a government body, in lieu of foreclosure, in bankruptcy, a gift to a charitable organization, and a transfer by a public housing authority.

Where it applies, before the property may be offered for sale to the public or a third party — including through a listing — the owner must send each tenant written notice of the right to deliver an offer to purchase, in the form the Secretary prescribes, by first class mail with a certificate of mailing or by a tracked delivery service, containing the material terms and the deadlines, with a copy to the Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs. The tenant has thirty days to deliver an offer. The owner has five days to accept an offer on the same or better terms, or to deliver a counteroffer explaining how the offer deviates. The tenant has five days to accept or reject a counteroffer, and silence is rejection.

A separate right of first refusal then arises under 8-119(d) where the owner intends to accept a third-party offer at least ten per cent below the lowest price previously offered to the tenant, or where the owner receives a third-party offer without having marketed the property at all. The tenant gets thirty days to match. The rights may not be waived or assigned, any attempted waiver is void, Real Prop. 8-208(d)(12) makes a lease clause waiving or conditioning them a prohibited provision, and the section preempts local law on the subject. A violation carries a fine of up to one thousand dollars per violation, and Real Prop. 8-120 requires the Department to publish a public data dashboard of tenant purchases.

Real Prop. 8-208(d) lists thirteen, and an out-of-state template will usually trip at least three. A Maryland landlord may not use a lease containing any provision that:

• Has the tenant authorize any person to confess judgment on a claim arising out of the lease.
• Has the tenant agree to waive or to forgo any right or remedy provided by applicable law — the provision that voids a waiver of the warranty of habitability, of the rent escrow remedy and of the deposit rules alike.
• Provides for a late-payment penalty above five per cent of the amount of unpaid rent due for the rental period for which the payment was delinquent, or, for weekly rent, above three dollars a week or twelve dollars a month.
• Has the tenant waive the right to a jury trial.
• Has the tenant agree to a shorter landlord’s notice to quit than applicable law requires — though the parties may agree to a longer one.
• Authorizes the landlord to take possession of the premises or the tenant’s personal property without formal legal process, unless the lease has been terminated and the property abandoned.
• Is against public policy and void under 8-105 — the exculpation, hold-harmless and indemnity clauses.
• Permits the landlord to evict or serve a notice to quit solely as retaliation for planning, organizing or joining a tenant organization to bargain collectively.
• Requires the tenant to accept notice of a rent increase by electronic delivery.
• Limits the tenant’s ability to summon law enforcement or emergency services, or penalizes the tenant for doing so, or for another individual doing so.
• Requires the tenant to pay more than the security deposit plus the first month’s rent to commence the lease and occupy the premises.
• Waives or conditions the tenant’s right of first refusal under 8-119.
• Makes the tenant responsible for the District Court filing surcharge assessed against the landlord, except as Courts Article 7-301(c)(5)(ii) authorises.

Real Prop. 8-105 sits behind the seventh item and is worth reading on its own. Any lease provision whose effect is to indemnify the landlord, hold the landlord harmless, or preclude or exonerate the landlord from any liability to the tenant or to anyone else for injury, loss, damage or liability arising from the landlord’s own omission, fault, negligence or other misconduct on or about the premises or its elevators, stairways, hallways or appurtenances not within the tenant’s exclusive control, is against public policy and void. An insurer may not claim subrogation by reason of that invalidity.

The consequence is where Maryland goes further than most states. Real Prop. 8-208(g)(1) makes a prohibited provision unenforceable by the landlord. Real Prop. 8-208(g)(2) then provides that where the landlord includes such a provision — or one made unenforceable by 8-105 or by 8-203 — and tenders a lease containing it, or attempts to enforce it, or makes known to the tenant an intent to enforce it, the tenant may recover any actual damages incurred, including reasonable attorney’s fees. The trigger is tendering, not enforcing. Handing a Maryland applicant a template with a confessed-judgment clause, a jury-trial waiver or a ten per cent late fee is itself the actionable event.

It may — but the statute is heavily one-sided the other way, and that changes how the clause should be drafted.

Maryland does not prohibit a tenant-pays-landlord fee clause. Real Prop. 8-208(d) lists thirteen prohibited provisions and fee-shifting is not among them. What 8-208(d)(2) forbids is a clause by which the tenant waives or forgoes a right or remedy provided by applicable law — which is a different thing.

But look at where the statute puts fees. At least ten separate provisions award reasonable attorney’s fees to the tenant, one way: 8-203(b)(3) for an over-cap deposit; 8-203(e)(4) and 8-203(h)(3)(ii) for a deposit wrongly withheld; 8-203(i)(13) against a surety; 8-203.1(a)(7) in the receipt’s own warning; 8-208(g)(2) for tendering or enforcing a prohibited provision; 8-208.1(c)(1) for retaliation; 8-211(o) on rent escrow; 8-212(j) on the warranty of habitability; 8-213(b)(1) on application fees; 8-215(c)(1)(iii) on lead; 8-216(c)(1)(ii) on lockouts; and 8-407(f)(2) on a defective pre-eviction notice.

Meanwhile the landlord’s own fastest remedy carries no fee at all. Real Prop. 8-401(e)(2)(v) authorises the court to give judgment for reasonable attorney’s fees in a summary ejectment only in a nonresidential tenancy, and only where the lease agreement authorises them. A residential Maryland landlord who wins possession for unpaid rent does not collect fees in that proceeding whatever the lease says.

So a Maryland fee clause is lawful but asymmetric in practice: the tenant’s entitlement arrives by statute regardless of the lease, and the landlord’s arrives only outside the summary procedure. The defensible drafting choice — and the one the optional clause in the form above generates — is a reciprocal prevailing-party clause that does not pretend to more than the statute allows.

Three separate provisions cap the money that can change hands before a Maryland tenant moves in.

Move-in money — 8-208(d)(11). A lease may not require the tenant to pay more than the sum of the 8-203(b) security deposit and the first month’s rent in order to commence the lease and occupy the premises. That is the whole permitted stack.

Application fees — 8-213. A lease application must contain a statement explaining the liabilities the tenant incurs on signing it and explaining the fee rules. Where a landlord takes any fee other than a security deposit and it exceeds twenty-five dollars, the landlord must return the unexpended part within fifteen days after occupancy, or after either party gives written notice that no tenancy will occur — or be liable for twice the amount of the fees in damages. The landlord may retain only what was actually spent on a credit check or another application expense. The section does not apply to a landlord offering four or fewer units on one parcel, or to seasonal or condominium rentals.

Reusable screening reports — 8-218. Maryland recognizes a reusable tenant screening report: one prepared within the previous thirty days by a consumer reporting agency at the prospective tenant’s request and expense and made available to the landlord at no charge, containing a credit report, a seven-year criminal history check and a seven-year eviction history for each prior-residence jurisdiction, verification of employment and income, and current address and rental history. A landlord must tell prospective tenants whether it accepts such reports, in writing or by conspicuous posting. A landlord that accepts one may charge the applicant neither an access fee nor an application fee, may require certification that nothing material has changed, and may reject the application before lease execution if a material change was made.

One more charge is worth naming because it is regularly passed on unlawfully. The District Court’s summary ejectment filing surcharge — capped at forty-three dollars per case by Courts Article 7-301(c)(2)(i)1, and funding the Statewide Rental Assistance Voucher Program, the Access to Counsel in Evictions Special Fund and the Rental Assistance for Community Schools Families Fund — is assessed against the landlord and may not be awarded or assigned as a fee or cost against a residential tenant. The single exception in 7-301(c)(5)(ii) allows a court to permit a deduction from the security deposit where a judgment of possession was granted and the lease expressly permits it. Any other clause passing it to the tenant is a prohibited provision under 8-208(d)(13).

Yes, and it carries a number. Real Prop. 8-208.1 forbids a landlord of any residential property to bring or threaten to bring an action for possession, arbitrarily increase the rent or decrease services, or terminate a periodic tenancy, for four listed reasons: the tenant or the tenant’s agent gave written or actual notice of a good faith complaint about a lease violation, a violation of law, or a condition that is a substantial threat to the health or safety of occupants, either to the landlord or to a public agency; the tenant filed, testified in or participated in a lawsuit involving the landlord; the tenant participated in a tenants’ organization; or, solely because the tenant or another individual, including another resident, summoned law enforcement or emergency services to the property.

Retaliation may be raised as a defence to an action for possession or as an affirmative claim for damages arising during the tenancy. The court may enter judgment against the landlord for damages not exceeding the equivalent of three months’ rent, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs. The same exposure runs the other way: a tenant whose retaliation assertion was in bad faith or without substantial justification faces judgment for up to three months’ rent, fees and costs.

Two limits define the doctrine. Relief is conditioned on the tenant being current on the rent at the time of the alleged retaliatory action — unless rent is being withheld under the lease, under 8-211, or under a comparable local ordinance. And nothing is retaliatory if it occurs more than six months after the protected act. Real Prop. 8-208.2 adds a parallel prohibition covering retaliation for giving the landlord information about lead paint hazards, expressly including an arbitrary refusal to renew and any form of constructive eviction, and 8-206 is a separate Montgomery County provision.

Two enacted 2026 statutes take effect on 1 October 2026, and both change what a Maryland landlord may do before the lease is signed. Neither is law yet at the time of writing, and this page will be revised on that date.

Chapter 752 (Senate Bill 937), the Maryland Fair Chance Housing Act. It amends Real Prop. 8-218 and adds a new subtitle at Real Prop. 8-2A-01 and following. A landlord that manages or owns five or more residential rental units in the State may not require a prospective tenant to submit to a drug or alcohol test, or request consent to release information from a substance-use treatment programme. Before accepting an application fee, the landlord must give written notice about the use of criminal history in leasing decisions. Before extending a conditional offer, the landlord may not ask the tenant to disclose criminal history or make any inquiry into it, with narrow carve-outs for specified serious convictions and registration requirements. An individualized assessment is required, the tenant may submit evidence of inaccuracy, rehabilitation and mitigating factors, and a violation carries a civil penalty of up to five hundred dollars.

Chapter 772 (House Bill 315). It adds Real Prop. 8-208.4 and amends the State Government Article’s fair housing provisions. A landlord that uses financial screening may not refuse to rent based on adverse credit score or credit history where the tenant uses an income-based housing subsidy, though the landlord may verify ability to pay the tenant’s own share and may rely on references and rental history. Violations are discriminatory housing practices enforceable by the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. The Act also requires landlords to offer tenants the option of having positive rental payment history reported to consumer reporting agencies.

Two bills widely written up as new Maryland law did not pass, and a page that recited them would be wrong. House Bill 80, which would have required an itemized written disclosure of every tenant fee, passed the House and died in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. House Bill 774, which would have authorised counties to adopt good-cause eviction rules by local law, passed the House and sat in Senate Rules. Separately, Senate Bill 130 and House Bill 220 on water submetering in apartment houses and mobile home parks take effect on 1 October 2026, and the air-conditioning duty in 8-122 extends to renovated units on the same date.

• Charging two months’ rent as a security deposit. The cap has been one month since 1 October 2024 under 8-203(b)(1), and the excess costs up to three times what was overcharged.
• Treating advance last-month rent, or a refundable pet deposit, as something other than a deposit. Section 8-203(a)(3) sweeps both in, and both count against the one-month cap.
• Stacking a move-in fee on top of the deposit and first month’s rent. Section 8-208(d)(11) prohibits requiring more than those two to commence the lease.
• Holding the deposit in the operating account, or out of state. Section 8-203(d) requires an interest-bearing account devoted exclusively to deposits at a Maryland branch, funded within thirty days.
• Printing a deposit interest rate in the lease. The rate is the greater of the one-year Treasury yield or one and one half per cent and resets each January; use the Department of Housing and Community Development calculator, which 8-203(n) lets you rely on.
• Sending the itemized list without documentation. Section 8-203(j) requires supporting documentation identifying the materials or services, and 8-203(k) requires the final invoice and a thirty-day refund where an estimate was used.
• Missing the forty-five days. Section 8-203(g)(2) forfeits the right to withhold anything at all, and 8-203(e)(4) adds treble damages plus fees.
• Never telling the tenant about the move-out inspection right. Section 8-203(f)(1)(vii) forfeits every deduction right, and the notice belongs in the deposit receipt inside the lease.
• Leaving the Maryland Tenants Bill of Rights off the lease. Section 8-208(c)(4) makes the current version mandatory lease content, and it is reissued every June.
• Leaving the utility allocation to a schedule or an oral understanding. Section 8-208(c)(2) makes the heat, gas, electricity, water and repair allocation a required lease term.
• Reciting a five per cent late fee on the monthly rent. The ceiling in 8-208(d)(3) is five per cent of the unpaid rent for that rental period.
• Assuming Maryland has no entry rule. Since 1 October 2025, 8-221 requires twenty-four hours’ written notice stating the purpose, and confines entry to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
• Giving thirty days’ notice to end a month-to-month tenancy. Section 8-402(c)(2)(i) requires sixty.
• Giving thirty days’ notice of a rent increase. Section 8-209 requires ninety for a tenancy of more than a month.
• Demanding more notice from the tenant than the landlord gives. Section 8-501 voids that to the extent of the excess.
• Filing for unpaid rent without the ten-day notice. Section 8-401(c) makes it a precondition and requires the complaint to affirm the date it was given.
• Skipping the six-day pre-eviction notice. Section 8-407 makes the court vacate the warrant of restitution.
• Forgetting to plead the rental licence. Section 8-406 requires it in any licensing jurisdiction, and it must be proved at trial.
• Copying a confessed-judgment or jury-waiver clause from an out-of-state form. Both are prohibited by 8-208(d), and merely tendering the lease triggers 8-208(g)(2).
• Passing the eviction filing surcharge to the tenant. Courts Article 7-301(c)(5)(i) forbids it outside the narrow deposit-deduction exception.
• Handing over a lease with no mold pamphlet. Section 8-220 requires it at signing, with a requested acknowledgment.
• Renting a pre-1978 property without the Notice of Tenants’ Rights and the inspection certificate. Environment Article 6-820 requires both at the inception of the tenancy and every two years after.
• Writing a clause that waives the tenant’s right of first refusal. Prohibited by 8-208(d)(12) and void under 8-119(f).
• Changing the locks or cutting the utilities to force a tenant out. Section 8-216 makes both unlawful and gives the tenant actual damages plus fees.

A well-drafted lease decides who wins a dispute; screening decides whether there is one. Maryland’s remedies put real money on the outcome — treble damages for a mishandled deposit, three months’ rent for retaliation, actual damages and fees the moment a prohibited clause is tendered — and several of them turn on the landlord’s own compliance long before the tenant’s conduct is reached. Verifiable income, a clean payment history and no prior eviction filings remain the strongest predictors of a quiet tenancy. Maryland also regulates the screening step itself: 8-213 caps what may be kept of an application fee, and 8-218 bars charging any application fee where the landlord accepts a reusable screening report. Our tenant screening report covers credit, eviction filings, criminal background and employment verification. Screen first, paper the tenancy with this lease, and read the Maryland tenant screening laws guide and the Maryland pet and assistance animal guide before writing a pet clause.

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