Free Maryland Notice to Enter

This Maryland Notice to Enter gives a tenant clear written notice before the landlord enters the rental unit. As of October 1, 2025, Maryland requires at least 24 hours of written notice (Md. Real Prop. § 8-220, enacted by 2025 Md. Laws ch. 564 / HB 1076), with entry only between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, unless the tenant agrees in writing to another time. The lease can add detail but cannot authorize less than the statutory floor; in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, parallel 24-hour rules also apply. See our tenant screening laws by state hub and how to screen tenants guide to keep your Maryland tenancies documented from the start.

Complete the fields below to generate a Maryland Notice to Enter. As of October 1, 2025, Maryland law (Real Prop. Section 8-220, enacted by 2025 Md. Laws ch. 564 / HB 1076) requires at least 24 hours of written notice before entry, with entry only between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday unless the tenant agrees in writing to another time. The form records the date, approximate time window, specific purpose, the persons entering, and how the notice is delivered – and check whether your county (for example, Montgomery County) adds its own rule.

Watch: Maryland Notice to Enter explained

▶ Watch overview

Maryland recently joined the states that govern landlord entry by statute. Effective October 1, 2025, the new entry-notice law – codified at Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-220 (“Notice of Landlord Entry”) and enacted by 2025 Md. Laws ch. 564 (House Bill 1076) – requires a landlord to give the tenant at least 24 hours of written notice before entering the rental unit, and limits entry to 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, unless the tenant agrees in writing to another time. Before this law, Maryland had no statewide entry statute and entry was governed only by the lease and the common-law covenant of quiet enjoyment. That older framework still supplies the remedies, but the 24-hour written-notice rule is now a statutory floor that applies across the state.

Because the statute sets a floor, the lease can no longer authorize less. A clause that lets the landlord enter on no notice, or at any hour, cannot override the 24-hour written-notice requirement or the 7:00 a.m.-to-7:00 p.m. Monday-through-Saturday window. The lease can still add useful detail – how showings are scheduled, standing consent for routine maintenance, the rescheduling contact – and it can give the tenant more protection than the statute. But where the lease and the statute conflict in the landlord’s favor, the statute wins. The background limit on every entry remains the covenant of quiet enjoyment, and the new law expressly ties its damages remedy to a breach of that covenant, so the statute and the common law now reinforce each other.

Best practice under the 2025 law: give at least 24 hours of written notice that states the date, the approximate time, and the specific purpose; enter only within the lawful hours for a legitimate reason; and keep a dated copy. Reasonable, documented notice is both the statutory requirement and the best protection against a quiet-enjoyment claim. One trap to avoid is mis-citing Real Property Section 8-204 as the entry rule: Section 8-204 is the covenant of quiet enjoyment – it governs delivery of possession at the start of the term, rent abatement, and holdover – not the notice period, which comes from the 2025 statute.

The one clear exception is a genuine emergency. If there is a fire, a flood, a gas leak, or another immediate threat to life or property, a Maryland landlord may enter at once without the 24-hour notice – the statute and the local ordinances both carve out the same emergency exception. For every routine entry, this form captures exactly what the statute requires – the date, the approximate time window, the specific purpose, who will enter, and how the notice is delivered – and leaves you a dated record that you complied. The sections that follow walk through the permitted purposes, the notice and timing mechanics, the emergency exception, showings, abandonment, what the lease can and cannot do, the local ordinances, and – most important for a landlord managing risk – exactly what remedies a Maryland tenant has if entry goes wrong.

The 2025 statute does not leave the permitted purposes to guesswork; it lists them. A Maryland landlord may enter to complete repairs, maintenance, renovations, or improvements; to inspect the unit; to show the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, or contractors; to protect the safety of the property and its occupants; to complete work ordered by a government entity; and, where appropriate, to respond to a written request from the tenant. The unifying test is the same one that runs through every well-drafted entry law: the landlord must have a real, property-management or safety reason to be inside, not a pretext for checking up on or pressuring the tenant.

Repairs and maintenance are the most common reason a landlord needs access – responding to a repair request, performing scheduled upkeep, and keeping the unit fit and safe. Inspections – annual condition checks, move-out walkthroughs, and pre-renewal assessments – are equally routine, and a clear notice describing the inspection keeps it from feeling intrusive. Because the statute requires the notice to state the specific purpose, “annual condition inspection” or “replace kitchen faucet” is exactly the kind of plain-language purpose the law expects.

Showings are a frequent flashpoint because they bring strangers into an occupied home. The statute expressly permits showing the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, or contractors, which covers re-renting near the end of a lease, marketing a property for sale, and giving a lender or appraiser access during a refinance. Each is legitimate, but each calls for generous notice and reasonable scheduling, because showings tend to cluster.

Safety and government-ordered work round out the list: protecting the property and occupants, and completing work a government entity has ordered. Testing smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors, servicing heating and cooling systems, and pest control fall naturally under repairs, maintenance, and safety. Across all of these purposes, the form lets the landlord state the exact reason, describe the work, and list everyone who will enter – which is the single most effective way to turn a potentially contested entry into a routine, documented, statute-compliant visit.

It is worth being explicit about what is not a legitimate purpose, because that is where landlords get into trouble. Entering to see whether the tenant is keeping the unit “well enough” with no maintenance reason, to look for lease violations on a hunch, to confront a tenant over a dispute, or simply to remind a tenant who controls the property are not statutory purposes; they are the kind of pretextual entries that look like harassment and that a court will treat as unauthorized even if the landlord went through the motions of giving notice. The discipline of writing the specific purpose on the notice – which the statute requires anyway – is itself a useful filter: if a landlord cannot state a concrete, legitimate reason on paper, that is a strong signal the entry should not happen.

Some purposes carry their own follow-on courtesies. A repair that will shut off water or power should say so, so the tenant can plan. A pest-control treatment that requires the tenant to clear cabinets or keep pets away for a period should spell out those steps in advance. A move-out inspection goes far more smoothly when the tenant is invited to attend, because a jointly observed walkthrough heads off later disputes about the unit’s condition. Tying each permitted purpose to its practical logistics, right there in the notice, is what separates a professional operation from one that generates friction and complaints.

The mechanics of the 2025 law are specific, and following them precisely is what keeps an entry clean. Three requirements work together: the amount of notice, the hours of entry, and the content and delivery of the written notice.

On notice, the landlord must provide at least 24 hours of written notice before entry. Written matters: a verbal heads-up does not satisfy the statute, and it leaves no record. Twenty-four hours is the floor, not a target – giving more time when a showing or a larger repair is involved is good practice and reflects good faith. The notice must state the date the landlord intends to enter, the approximate time, and the specific purpose of the entry, so the tenant knows exactly what to expect and can plan, secure pets, or raise a scheduling conflict.

On hours, the statute confines entry to 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, unless the tenant agrees in writing to a different time. That means a Sunday entry, an early-morning entry before 7:00 a.m., or a late-evening entry after 7:00 p.m. requires the tenant’s written agreement – it is not enough that the landlord thinks the time is convenient. Offering a window within the lawful hours, rather than a single rigid moment, both respects the tenant and improves the odds the entry happens smoothly.

On delivery, the statute is specific about the permitted methods. The landlord may deliver the notice by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing – sent far enough ahead to give the tenant a full 24 hours – or by a paper notice affixed to the door of the unit. Electronic delivery by email, text message, or an electronic tenant portal is permitted only if the tenant has elected to receive notices that way. A landlord cannot impose electronic notice on a tenant who has not chosen it; absent that election, use mail or a posted paper notice. Whatever the method, keep proof – the certificate of mailing, a dated photo of the posted notice, or the sent email or text – because the record is what proves compliance if the entry is ever questioned.

Reasonableness still has a frequency dimension on top of the statute. A single, well-noticed entry to make a repair is plainly fine. A pattern of frequent entries, even with 24 hours’ notice each time, can interfere with the tenant’s possession and support a quiet-enjoyment claim, because at some point the sheer volume of intrusions becomes the problem regardless of how each one is announced. The safe practice is to consolidate work, enter no more often than the task genuinely requires, and document each visit. Reasonableness is also a two-way street: a tenant who proposes a slightly better time within the lawful hours earns flexibility, and a documented trail of statute-compliant notices is exactly what a landlord would rely on if a tenant unreasonably stonewalls a properly noticed, legitimate entry.

The clearest situation in which a Maryland landlord may enter without the 24-hour notice is a genuine emergency. A fire, a flood, a gas leak, a burst pipe, or any other immediate threat to life, safety, or the property itself justifies immediate entry, because waiting to give notice could turn a containable problem into a catastrophe. The emergency exception is built into the 2025 statute and into the local ordinances; it is not a loophole for routine access, and it applies only when prompt entry is genuinely necessary to prevent or limit harm.

Because an emergency entry happens without the usual notice, documentation is the landlord’s protection. Record the date and time, the nature of the emergency, what was found on entering, what was done, and who entered, and keep any photographs. Notify the tenant promptly afterward, explaining what happened and why immediate entry was necessary. Good after-the-fact documentation converts an unannounced entry from a potential trespass or quiet-enjoyment claim into an obviously justified emergency response.

It helps to draw a bright line between a true emergency and mere urgency. A burst pipe actively flooding the unit, a gas smell, a fire alarm, or a report of a medical crisis behind a locked door are emergencies that justify immediate entry, because every minute of delay risks serious harm. A lease violation the landlord is eager to confront, a repair the tenant has been slow to schedule, or a desire to get ahead of a deadline are urgent to the landlord but are not emergencies, and using the emergency label to cover them is exactly the kind of overreach that turns an entry into an unlawful one. The honest test is whether waiting the 24-hour notice period would risk real harm; if it would not, it is not an emergency, and the landlord should give notice.

Scope matters too. An emergency justifies the entry needed to address the emergency, not a general search of the unit. A landlord who enters to stop a flood should deal with the water and leave, not take the opportunity to inspect the tenant’s belongings or look for unconnected problems. An emergency entry that balloons into a broader, unfocused search can lose its protection and revert to an ordinary unauthorized entry. Keeping the response proportionate – in and out, focused on the hazard, documented – is what keeps the exception clean.

Showings deserve their own treatment because they put the landlord’s legitimate business needs in the sharpest tension with the tenant’s right to peaceful possession. When a lease is ending, the landlord may reasonably need to show the unit to prospective tenants so it does not sit vacant. When the property is for sale, the landlord may need to show it to prospective buyers, and a buyer’s lender or appraiser may need access. The 2025 statute expressly permits showings to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, and contractors – but every one of them still requires the 24-hour written notice and brings outsiders into an occupied home.

The protection for both sides is the statute plus the lease. Each showing needs its own 24-hour written notice stating the date, approximate time, and that the purpose is a showing, and each must fall within the lawful hours unless the tenant agrees in writing otherwise. A well-drafted Maryland lease will also say how showings are scheduled near the end of the term, and a landlord should follow that clause; where the lease addresses showings, deviating from its terms is a breach on top of any statutory issue.

Practical courtesy goes a long way during a sale or re-rental. Group showings into defined windows within the lawful hours rather than scattering them, give the tenant as much lead time as possible beyond the 24-hour minimum, and offer a way to reschedule around the tenant’s commitments. A tenant who feels respected during a marketing period is far less likely to refuse access or claim harassment, and the landlord keeps the dated notices that show every showing was properly announced and statute-compliant.

Entry rules assume the tenant is still in possession. When a tenant abandons the unit or surrenders it, the possessory interest that entry law protects begins to dissolve, and the landlord’s ability to enter changes. Abandonment, however, is a conclusion a landlord should reach carefully, because acting on a mistaken belief that a tenant has left can itself create liability – and in Maryland, self-help is sharply limited.

Abandonment generally requires both that the tenant has actually left the premises and that the tenant intends not to return – shown by facts such as removed belongings, disconnected utilities, unpaid rent, and no response to contact. A tenant who is merely traveling, hospitalized, or temporarily away has not abandoned the unit, and treating an occupied home as abandoned can expose the landlord to a trespass or wrongful-eviction claim. Surrender is the cleaner case: the tenant affirmatively gives the unit back, by returning keys or by agreement, which ends the tenancy and the tenant’s possessory rights.

The safe approach is to confirm abandonment before relying on it, and never to use entry as a substitute for the legal process. Real Property Section 8-216 bans self-help eviction in Maryland: a landlord may not lock a tenant out, remove belongings, or cut essential services to force a tenant out, even after the lease ends or rent is unpaid; possession must be recovered through the court and the sheriff under a warrant of restitution, and a violation is a misdemeanor carrying a fine up to $500 or up to 10 days in jail per violation plus actual damages and fees. Document the indicators of abandonment, attempt to reach the tenant, and when the situation is ambiguous, use the courts rather than self-help. Until the landlord is confident the tenant has surrendered or abandoned possession, the ordinary entry rules – 24-hour written notice, lawful hours, and a permitted purpose, with emergencies excepted – continue to apply.

Now that Maryland governs entry by statute, the lease plays a narrower but still useful role. The statute is the floor, and within that floor the parties can shape entry by agreement: the lease can spell out how showings, inspections, and emergencies are handled, set a standing schedule for routine maintenance, and name the contact for rescheduling. The lease can also give the tenant more protection than the statute – longer notice, narrower hours, a tighter list of purposes – and a landlord is free to offer that.

What the lease cannot do is bargain below the statutory floor. A clause that purports to let the landlord enter on no notice, or at any hour, cannot override the 24-hour written-notice requirement or the 7:00 a.m.-to-7:00 p.m. Monday-through-Saturday limit. A landlord who relies on an old “any time, no notice” clause to enter is not exercising a contract right; that conduct now violates the statute and can support a quiet-enjoyment damages claim, a common-law trespass claim, and – where it is highly offensive – an intrusion-upon-seclusion claim, regardless of what the clause says.

A tenant’s consent in real time still matters, especially for entries outside the lawful hours. The statute lets the tenant agree in writing to a time outside the 7:00 a.m.-to-7:00 p.m. Monday-through-Saturday window, so a text or email confirming a specific date, time, and purpose is exactly the kind of written agreement the law contemplates. The cleanest practice is to memorialize any such consent in writing, so that an agreed-upon visit cannot later be recast as an unlawful entry. Standing consent for routine maintenance can be built into the lease; one-off consent can be documented as it is given.

For that reason, the smarter drafting choice is a clause that is clear and statute-aligned rather than maximal. A clause that grants entry on at least 24 hours’ written notice, for the statutory purposes, within the lawful hours, with an emergency carve-out, gives the landlord everything a normal operation needs while matching the law. An “any time, no notice” clause buys nothing real now – the statute caps it – and it reads badly if the tenancy turns adversarial, because it looks like a landlord who wanted unchecked access to someone else’s home. One statutory limit on waiver is worth flagging from an adjacent area: under the retaliation statute, a tenant cannot be made to waive the retaliatory-action protections of Real Property Section 8-208.1. The practical advice is to be consistent and to put the important agreements in writing – the lease clause for the standing rules, and a quick text or email for any one-off variation within the lawful hours.

Even with a statewide statute in place, Maryland’s local ordinances still matter, and a careful landlord checks the county or city before relying on the state floor alone. The two largest local rules now run parallel to the statute but add their own wrinkles.

Montgomery County. Montgomery County Code Chapter 29, Section 29-31 has long required a landlord to give the tenant at least 24 hours of notice before entering, except in an emergency or where the landlord has good cause to believe the tenant has damaged the property. Montgomery County also requires 72 hours of notice before certain annual, biannual, or triennial inspections by County Code Enforcement – a longer, inspection-specific window that the statewide law does not address. A landlord with property in Montgomery County should treat the 24-hour entry notice as a hard floor and watch for the separate 72-hour inspection rule.

Prince George’s County. Prince George’s County’s landlord-tenant code likewise requires 24 hours of notice before entry except in an emergency, and limits entry to 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, unless the tenant agrees in writing to another time – terms that closely track the 2025 statewide statute. Because the state and county rules now point the same way, compliance is simpler than it once was, but the county rule remains its own source of obligation.

The takeaway is to layer the rules: meet the statewide 24-hour written-notice and lawful-hours floor everywhere, and add any extra local requirement on top – for example, Montgomery County’s 72-hour Code Enforcement inspection notice. A landlord who manages property in more than one Maryland jurisdiction is best served by a single, consistent practice that satisfies the strictest applicable rule, so no entry is ever caught short by a local ordinance the landlord forgot to check.

This is the heart of Maryland entry law and the part most worth getting right. Maryland now layers a statutory remedy on top of the older common-law and contract theories, so a tenant facing an unlawful or excessive entry has several overlapping options. A landlord who understands these remedies will see immediately why 24-hour written notice, lawful hours, and a legitimate purpose are not just compliance boxes but genuine risk management. The remedies below are presented roughly in the order a Maryland tenant in possession would consider them.

The statutory remedy – injunction and damages for breach of quiet enjoyment

The 2025 entry law gives the tenant a direct remedy: a court may issue an injunction against the landlord and may assess damages against the landlord for breach of the tenant’s covenant of quiet enjoyment. This is the remedy aimed squarely at bad entries – an entry without the 24 hours’ written notice, an entry outside the lawful hours, an entry for no permitted purpose, or a pattern of repeated intrusions. The injunction can stop a landlord who keeps coming back, and the damages compensate the tenant for the interference with quiet enjoyment. Because the statute ties its damages to the covenant of quiet enjoyment, it dovetails with Real Property Section 8-204, the older quiet-enjoyment provision.

Common-law trespass

Independent of the statute, a landlord who enters a unit the tenant lawfully possesses without authority – no statutory compliance, no lease right, no legal process – can be liable to the tenant in trespass, because possession, not title, founds a trespass action, which is exactly why a tenant, who holds possession, can sue a landlord, who holds title. The remedy is the tenant’s actual damages flowing from the unauthorized entry. Trespass and the statutory quiet-enjoyment remedy can apply to the same entries, giving a tenant more than one theory for a single bad entry.

Intrusion upon seclusion – the privacy tort

For entries that are intentional, highly offensive, and usually repeated, a tenant may also have a privacy claim for intrusion upon seclusion. Maryland recognizes this tort: it covers an intentional intrusion upon a person’s private affairs or seclusion – including invading the home – that would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. The Maryland courts recognized this branch of invasion of privacy in Hollander v. Lubow, 277 Md. 47 (1976), and applied the intrusion standard in Furman v. Sheppard, 130 Md. App. 67 (2000). Maryland recognizes all four invasion-of-privacy torts, including false light (Bagwell v. Peninsula Regional Medical Center, 106 Md. App. 470 (1995)), which makes its privacy law broader than that of states that recognize only some of the four. The intrusion theory targets the most egregious conduct – a landlord who repeatedly invades the privacy of the home – and it can coexist with a trespass claim and the statutory remedy arising from the same entries; it is not a remedy for an ordinary, isolated over-entry.

Breach of the lease

Where the lease sets entry terms – the notice period, the permitted purposes, the hours – a landlord who violates them has simply breached the contract. This is the most straightforward theory, because it does not require proving a tort; it requires only showing that the lease said one thing about entry and the landlord did another. A tenant can raise the breach as a defense in other disputes and can pursue contract damages that flow from it. The flip side is useful for landlords: a lease that clearly authorizes entry on statute-compliant terms is the landlord’s authority to enter, so following the clause to the letter turns the contract from a sword into a shield.

Constructive eviction

If a landlord’s entry conduct goes so far that it renders the premises untenantable, the tenant may treat it as a constructive eviction. The critical condition is that the tenant must actually vacate the premises within a reasonable time to claim it; a tenant who stays put is generally treated as having waived the theory. A tenant who does vacate within a reasonable time is relieved of the obligation to pay further rent. Constructive eviction is therefore a powerful but demanding remedy: it ends the lease and the rent obligation, but only for a tenant willing to leave the home, which makes it a poor fit for the common case of a tenant who simply wants the intrusions to stop – and who, in Maryland, can now use the statutory injunction-and-damages remedy instead while staying in place.

Retaliation is a distinct rule that sits alongside the entry remedies. Real Property Section 8-208.1 protects a tenant from retaliation for protected activity – such as a good-faith complaint about a lease or law violation, or summoning emergency services – and lets the tenant raise retaliation as a defense to eviction or as an affirmative claim for damages up to three months’ rent, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs. An action is not retaliatory if it occurs more than six months after the protected activity, and relief generally requires the tenant to be current on rent. The retaliation statute does not set an entry-notice period, but if a landlord weaponizes entry as part of a retaliatory campaign after protected activity, the retaliation statute can come into play alongside the entry law and the common-law remedies above.

Maryland entry law changed in a single, important step: effective October 1, 2025, the state added a statewide entry-notice statute on top of the lease and the common-law backdrop that used to govern alone. The table below collects the authorities that now bear on entry and on the consequences of getting it wrong, so a landlord can see at a glance what the new statute requires, which older statutes supply the remedies, and where the common-law privacy torts and local ordinances fit. Several of these authorities are easy to mis-cite, so each entry notes exactly what it does – and does not – control.

Read together, these authorities tell a consistent story. Maryland used to leave landlord entry to the lease and the common law; in 2025 it added a clear statewide rule that sets a 24-hour written-notice floor and lawful entry hours, while leaving the older statutes and torts in place to supply the remedies. A landlord who gives 24 hours of written notice stating the date, approximate time, and purpose, enters within the lawful hours for a legitimate reason, and respects any tougher local rule is operating squarely inside every one of these authorities. A landlord who skips the notice, enters at odd hours, or uses entry to pressure a tenant steps outside the new statute and into the reach of the quiet-enjoyment remedy, common-law trespass, the privacy tort, and a possible local-ordinance violation.

A word on using this reference responsibly. The single most common error is to cite Real Property Section 8-204 as the entry-notice rule. It is not: Section 8-204 is the covenant of quiet enjoyment, which governs delivery of possession at the start of the term, rent abatement, and holdover – the entry-notice period comes from the 2025 statute, Real Property Section 8-220, and Section 8-204 enters the picture only as the covenant the new law’s damages remedy is tied to. The second common error is the 48-hour figure: HB 1076 was introduced proposing 48 hours but was amended to 24 hours before it passed, so the enacted requirement is 24 hours. Getting these two points right is what separates accurate Maryland guidance from boilerplate that is now out of date.

None of this is a substitute for advice on a specific situation. The authorities here describe the general shape of Maryland entry law as of late 2025, but the outcome of any actual dispute turns on the exact lease language, the facts of the entries, the local jurisdiction, and how a particular court reads them. The Maryland General Assembly’s Real Property Article – Section 8-220 – and the text of HB 1076 (Chapter 564) are the best free starting points, and a qualified Maryland landlord-tenant attorney is the right resource when a real conflict is on the table. Used alongside disciplined, well-documented notice, this form gives a Maryland landlord a clean, statute-compliant record for every entry – which is the most reliable protection the law allows.

A Maryland Notice to Enter is the written notice a landlord gives a tenant before entering the rental unit. As of October 1, 2025, Maryland law requires that notice: Md. Code, Real Property Section 8-220 (“Notice of Landlord Entry”), enacted by 2025 Md. Laws ch. 564 (House Bill 1076), requires a landlord to give at least 24 hours of written notice before entry and limits entry to 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, unless the tenant agrees in writing to another time. This form is built for that statute – it captures exactly what the law expects, so an entry is documented and compliant.

What the form captures is the practical core of a lawful entry – the date and the time window, the specific purpose and a description of the work, exactly who will enter, whether the tenant’s presence is requested or required, how pets should be handled, and the delivery method with a rescheduling contact. The statute requires the notice to state the date, the approximate time, and the specific purpose, and to be delivered by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, a paper notice on the door, or – if the tenant elected it – email, text, or a tenant portal. Filling these fields turns an informal heads-up into the documentation the law rewards.

The deeper law sits in the sections above – how the 2025 statute, Real Property Section 8-220, sets a 24-hour written-notice floor the lease cannot undercut, why Real Property Section 8-204 is the covenant of quiet enjoyment rather than the entry rule, how the local ordinances in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County layer on top, and what remedies a tenant actually has, from the new statutory injunction and quiet-enjoyment damages to common-law trespass and the intrusion-upon-seclusion privacy tort. You do not need to master all of it to use this form well: give at least 24 hours of written notice within the lawful hours, state the specific purpose, document each entry, and pair that discipline with sound tenant screening and a documented screening process so your Maryland tenancies are well-run from application through move-out.

• As of October 1, 2025, Maryland requires at least 24 hours of written notice before entry (Md. Real Prop. § 8-220, enacted by 2025 Md. Laws ch. 564 / HB 1076).
• The notice must state the date, the approximate time, and the specific purpose of entry.
• Entry is limited to 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, unless the tenant agrees in writing to another time.
• Deliver by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, a paper notice affixed to the door, or – if the tenant elected it – email, text, or a tenant portal.
• Permitted purposes: repairs/maintenance/renovations, inspection, showings to purchasers/mortgagees/tenants/contractors, protecting property and occupant safety, government-ordered work, and responding to a tenant’s written request.
• The lease can give the tenant more protection but cannot authorize less than the statutory floor.
• A genuine emergency allows immediate entry without notice.
• Check local rules: Montgomery County (Code Ch. 29, Sec. 29-31; plus a 72-hour Code Enforcement inspection rule) and Prince George’s County set parallel 24-hour requirements.
• Real Property Section 8-204 is the covenant of quiet enjoyment, not the entry-notice rule – the new statute’s damages remedy is tied to that covenant.
• Remedy for a bad entry: a court may issue an injunction and assess damages for breach of quiet enjoyment, alongside common-law trespass and the intrusion-upon-seclusion privacy tort.

• First-class mail with a certificate of mailing (sent far enough ahead to give 24 hours).
• Paper notice affixed to the door of the unit.
• Email, text message, or an electronic tenant portal – only if the tenant elected electronic notice.
• Personal delivery to the tenant, with a dated record kept on file.

• Citing Real Property Section 8-204 as the entry-notice rule – it is the covenant of quiet enjoyment.
• Relying on a 48-hour figure; HB 1076 was amended to 24 hours before it passed.
• Treating the pre-2025 ‘no statewide statute’ rule as still current – Maryland now requires 24-hour written notice.
• Entering outside 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Monday-Saturday without the tenant’s written agreement.
• Giving verbal notice, or written notice that omits the date, approximate time, or specific purpose.
• Forcing electronic notice on a tenant who did not elect it, instead of mailing or posting it.
• Relying on an old ‘any time, no notice’ lease clause that the statute now overrides.
• Overlooking a local rule – missing Montgomery County’s 24-hour entry rule or its 72-hour inspection rule.
• Using entry or a lockout as self-help to retake possession, which Section 8-216 bans as a misdemeanor.
• Keeping no dated copy or proof of delivery, leaving nothing to show compliance.

• Give at least 24 hours of written notice stating the date, approximate time, and specific purpose – more time for showings.
• Enter only within 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Monday-Saturday, or get the tenant’s written agreement for another time.
• Deliver by a lawful method and keep proof – the certificate of mailing, a dated photo of the posted notice, or the sent email or text.
• Confirm the local jurisdiction’s rule before each entry – especially Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.
• For emergencies, document the time, the nature of the emergency, what was found, and what was done.
• Use a clear, statute-aligned right-of-entry clause instead of an unenforceable ‘any time, no notice’ clause.
• Never use entry or a lockout as self-help to retake possession; use the courts and the sheriff.
• Keep every signed notice on file for the life of the tenancy.

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check

Established 2004 · 20+ Years · All U.S. States & Territories · Statute-Based · Attorney-Reviewed

A Private Eye Reports™ service trusted by landlords, property managers, and attorneys.