FTPR vs Breach of Lease vs Holdover: Choosing the Right Maryland Eviction Case Type

Maryland doesn't have one eviction process. It has three, sitting in three adjacent statutes, and the first decision in every eviction is which one fits your facts. Pick right and the case moves on rails. Pick wrong and you find out at the hearing, after weeks of notice time and a filing fee you won't get back.

This is the side-by-side: Failure to Pay Rent (FTPR), Breach of Lease, and Tenant Holding Over, compared on notice, proof, money, appeals, and timeline, with the decision framework up front.

The One-Question Decision Framework

Ask what the tenant is doing wrong, in one sentence:

• "They stopped paying rent." The tenancy is intact; the ledger isn't. File FTPR under Md. Code, Real Property § 8-401.
• "They're breaking the lease." Unauthorized occupants, pets, damage, illegal activity, nuisance, prohibited use, while the lease is still running. File Breach of Lease under § 8-402.1.
• "The lease is over and they won't leave." The term expired, or you properly terminated a month-to-month tenancy, and the tenant is still there without consent. File Tenant Holding Over under § 8-402.

If your sentence contains "and", you may have two case types, which is allowed. More on stacking below.

The Side-by-Side Table

Three of those rows decide most real-world choices, so let's walk them.

Notice: 10 vs 30 vs 60 Days

The notice period is the biggest structural difference, because it's pure calendar time before you can even file.

• FTPR: 10 days. The DC-CV-115 Notice of Intent under § 8-401(c), served and fully run before filing. EvictPro generates it free, no account required.
• Breach: 30 days, stating the violation and your intent to repossess. It drops to 14 days only when the conduct demonstrates a clear and imminent danger of serious harm, a high bar covered in the breach of lease walkthrough.
• Holdover: the tenancy must end first. For a month-to-month tenancy, § 8-402 requires written notice 60 days before the end of the tenancy; week-to-week and farm tenancies have their own periods, and a lease can require more. Only after the tenancy ends and the tenant stays does the holdover case exist. Local rules can add wrinkles, so verify your jurisdiction's current requirements before serving.

The practical consequence: an FTPR case can be in front of a judge before a breach notice has even expired, and roughly two months before a month-to-month holdover case could be filed at all.

Money: Who Gets a Judgment for What

• FTPR is the only track where the rent itself is the judgment. Win with the tenant personally served (or appearing) and you leave with a collectible money judgment for the rent claimed, plus costs. Posting-only service limits a default to possession and costs, explained in what happens after filing.
• Breach of lease pays you nothing but costs. The statute authorizes restitution of possession and a judgment for costs, period. Rent owed by the same tenant needs its own FTPR case or civil claim.
• Holdover awards actual damages caused by the holding over, with a statutory floor: not less than the apportioned rent at the lease rate for the holdover period. Lost rent from a delayed incoming tenant can push above the floor.

Appeals, Redemption, and the Post-Judgment Clocks

The differences don't stop at judgment.

• Appeal windows. FTPR judgments must be appealed within 4 days under § 8-401(i). Breach of lease and holdover judgments each carry a 10-day window (§ 8-402.1(b)(2) and § 8-402(b)(2)(ii)). In all three, staying in possession during the appeal requires the tenant to satisfy bond conditions protecting the landlord; an unbonded FTPR appeal doesn't stop the warrant.
• Redemption. Only FTPR tenants can pay-to-stay. The right of redemption runs until the moment the eviction is executed, unless the case qualified for No Right of Redemption (3 prior FTPR judgments in 12 months statewide, 4 in Baltimore City). Breach and holdover judgments can't be bought back, because they were never about a balance.
• Warrant clocks. FTPR's two 60-day clocks (request the warrant within 60 days of judgment, execute within 60 days of issuance) are specific to § 8-401(f). Breach and holdover warrants follow standard post-judgment timing without those FTPR deadlines.
• The wait before the warrant. In FTPR cases the warrant can't be filed until the statutory post-trial wait runs: 7 days under § 8-401(f)(1)(i), treated in practice as 7 business days, which is 9-11 calendar days.

When Facts Overlap: Stacking and Sequencing

Real tenants rarely fit one box. Common combinations:

• Behind on rent AND violating the lease. File FTPR now for the money and the faster possession track; add a breach case if the conduct independently matters (danger, damage, neighbors leaving). The FTPR judgment plus redemption pressure resolves most of these before the breach case matures.
• Lease expired AND rent unpaid. You can choose holdover (ends the tenancy question permanently) or FTPR (faster, carries the money judgment). Many landlords file FTPR even when the lease has technically expired, because a tenant who redeems an FTPR judgment has at least paid in full. If you never want this tenancy back, holdover is the cleaner endgame despite the longer notice.
• Danger to people or property. The 14-day breach notice is the fastest statutory track Maryland gives a landlord for dangerous conduct. Document everything, involve police where warranted, and consult a licensed Maryland attorney; these cases justify professional help.

Whatever you file, the prerequisites travel with you: Baltimore City landlords need a current rental license (and lead paint certificate for pre-1978 properties) to walk out of any of these hearings with a judgment.

The situations none of the three cover

Two edge cases trip up landlords who try to force them into these tracks:

• An occupant who was never your tenant. A squatter, a guest who never left after the tenant moved out, or an ex-partner of a departed tenant is not evicted through FTPR, breach, or holdover. Maryland handles never-a-tenant occupants through a wrongful detainer action, a separate District Court proceeding with its own form and rules.
• Subsidized tenancies. Section 8 and other subsidized leases layer federal notice and good-cause requirements on top of the state tracks. The state case type still has to be right, but it's not the whole analysis: see the Section 8 eviction guide before serving anything.

One Platform, Three Tracks

The three case types share a courthouse but not a checklist, and the mistakes are all procedural: wrong notice period, wrong form, wrong expectation about the money. EvictPro manages all three as first-class pipelines:

• FTPR end-to-end: free DC-CV-115 Notice of Intent, $99 Filing with Court (base court filing fee included, $5-per-tenant service fee at cost), $249 hearing representation, $199 warrant stage with the $50 DC-CV-081 fee included.
• Case-type-aware deadlines: 10 vs 30 vs 60-day notices, 4 vs 10-day appeal windows, and FTPR's 60-day warrant clocks, calendared automatically per case.
• One evidence vault per tenant, so a stacked FTPR-plus-breach strategy shares the same lease, ledger, and document record.
• Experienced Maryland agents who work these dockets daily, whether you're filing your first case or your five hundredth.

Related reading:

• The Maryland FTPR Process, Step by Step
• Breach of Lease Eviction in Maryland: The § 8-402.1 Walkthrough
• Maryland Holdover Tenant Eviction: The § 8-402 Guide
• What Happens After Filing an FTPR Case in Maryland?
• How Long Does an Eviction Take in Maryland?