Maryland Rent Increase Laws: The Landlord and Tenant Guide

Maryland has no statewide rent-control cap, but that does not make it a free-for-all. Two things constrain almost every increase: a statewide written-notice rule under Maryland Code, Real Property, section 8-209 that runs up to 90 days, and a fast-growing patchwork of local rent-stabilization programs that are stricter and control where they apply. Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, and Takoma Park each cap covered increases with their own formulas, while most of the rest of the state has no percentage limit at all. Layered on top are the retaliation bar in section 8-208.1 and fair-housing rules, including statewide source-of-income protection under the HOME Act. Get all of them right and your increase holds; miss one and a tenant can refuse the overage and use the defect against you.

The stakes are practical. An increase served with the wrong notice period, or one that busts a local rent-stabilization cap, is not just risky — the defective portion is unenforceable, and a retaliatory or discriminatory increase can expose you to damages on top. Because the local allowances are recalculated every year and the statewide notice statute is recent, treat every figure in this guide as a starting point and verify the current number for the property’s exact county or city before you serve anything.

Below, a detailed overview video summarizes the Maryland framework; the sections that follow break down each piece — whether Maryland has rent control, the section 8-209 notice periods, when you may raise rent at all, the Montgomery, Prince George’s, and Takoma Park programs, retaliation, fair housing and the HOME Act, and a step-by-step landlord playbook — plus a Maryland-specific FAQ.

The short answer is that Maryland has no statewide rent control, but rent stabilization is increasingly a local matter, and where it exists it is strong. In most of the state, there is no percentage limit on how much a landlord may raise the rent; the only statewide constraints are the written-notice rule and the bars on retaliation and discrimination. In a handful of high-cost jurisdictions, however, a local ordinance sets a firm annual cap that is far lower than the state default and that controls for covered units.

Three jurisdictions run active rent-stabilization programs. Montgomery County adopted permanent rent stabilization in 2023 under Bill 15-23. Prince George’s County enacted a Permanent Rent Stabilization and Protection Act in 2024, replacing an earlier temporary cap. And Takoma Park has run a rent-stabilization program for decades, one of the longest-standing in the region. Each is covered in detail below.

Even where no cap applies, an increase fails if you deliver it with the wrong notice. Maryland now has a statewide written-notice rule for rent increases in Maryland Code, Real Property, section 8-209, enacted as part of the state’s recent tenant-protection legislation. The required period turns on the length of the tenancy, and the statute also dictates how the notice must be delivered.

For the typical month-to-month tenancy, the operative number is 60 days under section 8-209(b)(3)(ii), because a month-to-month tenancy is a tenancy for a term of one month – the 90-day tier in section 8-209(b)(3)(i) applies to a term of more than one month, such as a year lease. Both are longer than the notice period in most other states, and a change from the shorter periods some Maryland landlords used before the statewide rule took effect. The notice must go out by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, or by electronic means such as email, text message, or a tenant portal only when the tenant has affirmatively elected that method. A landlord cannot force electronic delivery on a tenant, and a notice posted on the door, left as a voicemail, or announced verbally does not satisfy the statute.

What a Proper Notice Contains and How to Serve It

A defensible rent-increase notice is in writing and states, at minimum: the tenant’s name and the property address, the current rent, the new rent, the effective date, and the landlord’s name and contact information. The effective date must fall at least the full statutory period after the notice is delivered, so on a month-to-month tenancy the earliest the new rent can start is the day after the 90-day window closes. Serve it by the statutory method, and keep a copy of both the notice and the certificate of mailing or proof of electronic delivery.

The notice rule and any local cap only matter once you actually have the right to raise the rent. That right depends on the tenancy.

During a Fixed-Term Lease: Generally Locked

While a fixed-term lease is running, the rent is set at the agreed amount for the whole term. You cannot raise it mid-term unless the lease itself contains an explicit escalation clause that permits the change — and even then, the increase must still respect any local rent-stabilization cap. Absent that clause, the tenant is entitled to the agreed rent through the end of the term, and a tenant who keeps paying the original amount is in the right.

At Renewal or on a Periodic Tenancy

The two ordinary windows to raise rent are at lease renewal, when a new term begins, and during a periodic tenancy such as month-to-month, where a landlord may change the rent going forward by serving the proper section 8-209 notice. On a month-to-month, the increase takes effect only after the full 90-day notice period runs; the tenant can accept the new rent and stay, or give proper notice and move out.

Montgomery County runs the most prominent rent-stabilization program in Maryland. The County Council adopted permanent rent stabilization in July 2023 under Bill 15-23, and it now limits how much rent may rise each year on covered units — a real cap, in a county where there had been none.

The CPI Plus 3 Percent Formula, Capped at 6 Percent

For a covered unit, the annual increase may not exceed the change in the Consumer Price Index for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area plus 3 percent, with an overall ceiling of 6 percent — whichever is lower. The county publishes the allowable figure each year. For the twelve months running July 2025 through June 2026, the allowance is about 5.7 percent, reflecting a regional CPI of roughly 2.7 percent plus the 3 percent factor. Because the CPI portion is recalculated annually, look up the current published allowance rather than reusing last year’s number.

Prince George’s County is the other large county with an active cap. After a temporary rent-stabilization act, the County enacted the Permanent Rent Stabilization and Protection Act of 2024, which took effect in October 2024 and replaced the earlier emergency measure.

The Lesser of CPI Plus 3 Percent or 6 Percent

Under the permanent law, an annual increase on a covered unit is limited to the lesser of the regional Consumer Price Index plus 3 percent or 6 percent. Age-restricted senior housing is held to a lower figure — the lesser of CPI or 4.5 percent. The earlier temporary act had capped increases at a flat 3 percent, so a landlord relying on that older figure is working from an out-of-date number; the permanent framework is the one in force now. As with Montgomery County, the CPI portion is refreshed periodically, so verify the county’s current published allowance.

Takoma Park, a city inside Montgomery County, has one of the oldest rent-stabilization programs in the state, predating the county-wide law by decades. Its allowance is tied to inflation and tends to be lower than the county figure.

Takoma Park’s CPI-Based Allowance

Takoma Park limits the annual increase on a covered unit to the change in the Consumer Price Index for the Washington and Baltimore region, measured on a set annual basis. For the year beginning July 1, 2025, the allowance is about 2.4 percent. The program generally covers multi-family rental units and rental condominiums, while single-family rentals, accessory apartments, and certain owner-occupied two-unit properties are exempt. Takoma Park also requires its own written notice — commonly framed as a two-month notice — and because the city sits within Montgomery County, a covered property may face both the city program and the county framework, so confirm which rules apply.

Two more limits apply even where no local cap does, and an increase that clears the notice rule can still be unlawful if it trips either one.

A Rent Increase Cannot Be Retaliatory

Maryland Code, Real Property, section 8-208.1 prohibits a landlord from arbitrarily raising the rent in retaliation for a tenant’s exercise of a protected right. Protected acts include a tenant’s good-faith written or actual complaint about a lease violation or a condition threatening health or safety, a report to a public agency, filing or testifying in a lawsuit against the landlord, and participating in a tenant organization. When an increase follows within six months of protected activity, it is presumptively retaliatory, and the burden shifts to the landlord to show a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason. A tenant who prevails can recover damages up to the equivalent of three months’ rent, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs, and may raise retaliation as a defense to an eviction. The safest practice is to time increases to the ordinary schedule and to document the market and cost reasons behind the number.

It Cannot Discriminate or Target a Source of Income

A rent increase also cannot be used to discriminate against a protected class under the federal Fair Housing Act and Maryland’s fair-housing law — race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and disability, among others. Maryland further protects source of income statewide under the Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) Act of 2020, which added source of income to the classes shielded by state fair-housing law. That protection covers lawful rental assistance such as a Housing Choice Voucher, so a landlord generally may not set or raise rent to push out, or refuse to accommodate, a tenant because they use a voucher. Maryland has begun enforcing this protection more actively, including monetary settlements against landlords who screened out voucher holders.

The source-of-income piece deserves its own look, because it is a statewide protection that catches landlords who assume Maryland’s lack of a statewide cap leaves them free to price out subsidized tenants.

The HOME Act makes source-of-income discrimination unlawful across Maryland, not just in the counties that had adopted their own voucher protections earlier. In practical terms, a landlord generally cannot refuse to consider a Housing Choice Voucher, impose a minimum-income requirement that effectively excludes voucher holders, or raise the rent specifically to make a unit unaffordable to a tenant who relies on rental assistance. Because the protection is tied to the source of the tenant’s rent payment, a rent increase that is neutral on its face can still cross the line if it is aimed at forcing out a subsidized household.

Put the whole framework into a repeatable sequence and a rent increase becomes routine instead of risky. Follow these steps every time.