Howard County Eviction Guide for Landlords: Filing at the Ellicott City District Court in 2026

Howard County is one of Maryland's simpler jurisdictions to evict in, procedurally: one District Court location, the standard statewide FTPR machinery, and no city-by-city licensing patchwork. But it pairs that simplicity with one of the state's stricter county-level rules: a rental housing license requirement that applies before you ever sign a lease, and that follows you into the courtroom when a tenant stops paying.

This guide walks through the whole sequence for Howard County landlords: the notice, the courthouse, the fees on the current cost schedule, the license question the complaint makes you answer under oath, and the realistic timeline to possession.

Howard County evictions are won or lost before the courthouse: a current rental housing license, a clean 10-day notice, and a ledger that matches the complaint. The hearing itself is usually the easy part.

The Courthouse: One Location for the Whole County

Howard County is District 10 of the District Court of Maryland, and every landlord-tenant case in the county, from Columbia to Ellicott City to the rural western county, is heard at a single location:

• District Court of Maryland for Howard County (10-01)
• 3451 Courthouse Drive, Ellicott City, MD 21043
• Phone: 410-480-7700
• Open 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday, except legal holidays

The court's official directory page confirms it hears landlord-tenant cases, replevin, and civil claims up to $30,000, and posts the weekly docket online. No which-courthouse guesswork here: if the property is in Howard County, this is your building. Filing in a neighboring county because it is closer to your office is a jurisdictional defect, not a convenience.

The Howard County Rental Housing License

Before the eviction process even becomes relevant, Howard County requires the license that makes the tenancy legal.

Under the county code's rental housing licensing subtitle, the owner of a residential rental unit must hold a rental housing license before leasing it. Licenses are issued by the county Department of Inspections, Licenses and Permits (DILP), are generally valid for two years, and can be suspended or revoked for code violations. The county's landlord-tenant overview, including licensing contacts, is published at howardcountymd.gov, and DILP's rental housing office answers license-status questions at 410-313-1830. Requirements and fees change; confirm current details with DILP directly rather than relying on a secondhand summary, including this one.

Why the license decides eviction cases

Maryland ties licensing to the courtroom in two places:

1. Md. Code, Real Property § 8-406 requires a landlord in any jurisdiction with a residential rental licensing requirement to plead, and at trial prove, that the property is licensed, exempt, or unlicensed only for one of a short list of excusable reasons (such as tenant-caused inspection failures or issues stemming from other units).
2. The DC-CV-082 complaint itself asks: "Is the property required to be licensed in order to operate as a rental property?" with fields for the license number and expiration date.

For a Howard County landlord the practical rule is blunt: an expired or missing rental housing license can bar your summary ejectment case until it is cured, no matter how much rent is owed. Check the expiration date the same day you decide to serve a notice.

Step 1: The 10-Day Notice of Intent

Every Maryland FTPR case starts with the statutory notice under Md. Code, Real Property § 8-401: a written Notice of Intent to File a Complaint for Summary Ejectment (form DC-CV-115), served at least 10 days before filing. The notice period must fully run; filing on day 9 is a dismissal.

EvictPro generates a compliant DC-CV-115 free, in about ten minutes, no account required. Serve it, document how and when you served it, and calendar day 10.

Step 2: Filing DC-CV-082 in Ellicott City

The complaint is the statewide DC-CV-082, covered field by field in our filing guide. Howard County specifics:

• Filing fee: $50 for summary ejectment (Failure to Pay Rent), per the current District Court cost schedule, DCA-109 (Rev. 03/2026).
• Service fee: $5 per tenant of record, collected at filing.
• Other case types: Tenant Holding Over (DC-CV-080) and Breach of Lease (DC-CV-085) each carry a $56 filing fee. Nonpayment cases use DC-CV-082 only.
• The license fields: enter your rental housing license number and expiration date. This is the § 8-406 pleading described above.
• The lead paint field: pre-1978 properties must show current MDE lead registration and inspection certificate information.

The habits that keep Howard County filings clean are the same ones that work statewide: name every tenant on the lease, copy the property address exactly, claim only the balance outstanding on the filing date, subtract partial payments received during the notice period, and cap late fees at 5% of monthly rent.

Step 3: The Hearing

Howard County landlord-tenant dockets are typically heard in blocks at the Courthouse Drive building. Hearing logistics change, so check the posted weekly docket or call 410-480-7700 to confirm your date, time, and courtroom. Bring:

• The signed lease (original if you have it)
• A rent ledger current through the hearing date
• Proof of the 10-day notice and its service method
• Your rental housing license documentation
• The lead certificate for pre-1978 properties
• Photo ID, and authority documentation if an entity owns the property

If the tenant does not appear, clean paperwork usually produces a default judgment for possession the same day. If the tenant appears, the judge hears both sides; the most common defenses are defective notice, licensing gaps, and disputed amounts, which is why the preparation list above matters more than anything you will say in the courtroom.

Ask for both the judgment for possession and the money judgment. Landlords who only take possession forfeit the collectible judgment.

Step 4: After Judgment, the Clock Work Begins

Judgment is the midpoint. The post-judgment sequence in Howard County follows the statewide pattern:

• 4-day appeal window. The tenant may appeal to the Circuit Court; only a bonded appeal stays the eviction.
• Right of redemption. Until the eviction is physically executed, the tenant can cancel it by tendering the full court-determined amount in cash, certified check, or money order. The No Right of Redemption exception requires 3 prior FTPR judgments in the prior 12 months and must be pled at filing.
• Warrant of restitution (DC-CV-081). Section 8-401(f)(1)(i) sets a 7-day post-judgment wait, treated in practice as 7 business days under Md. Rule 1-203. Then two 60-day clocks: the warrant must be requested within 60 days of judgment and executed within 60 days of issuance.
• Eviction-date notice. Under Real Property § 8-407, the statewide default is a single minimum 6-day advance notice of the scheduled eviction date (first-class mail with certificate of mailing, posting with photo, and electronic notice if the tenant agreed), with counties allowed to set their own period between 4 and 14 days. Confirm Howard County's current requirement when your warrant issues; see Maryland Eviction Notice Requirements by County for the full landscape.
• Sheriff execution. The Howard County Sheriff's Office schedules and executes the eviction; lead times vary with backlog.

The Howard County Timeline, End to End

For a typical uncontested nonpayment case:

Total: roughly 45 to 75 days from notice to possession in an uncontested case, consistent with the statewide pattern we break down in How Long Does an Eviction Take in Maryland?. A contested hearing, an appeal, a redemption, or sheriff backlog can stretch any single phase.

How EvictPro Handles Howard County Cases

Whether you own a single Columbia townhome or manage a portfolio across Howard, Anne Arundel, and Baltimore counties, the process is the same platform end to end:

• Free 10-day Notice of Intent (DC-CV-115) at evictpro.us/notice-of-intent, no account required.
• Filing with Court: $99, base court filing fee included, with Maryland's $5-per-tenant service fee billed at cost. The complaint is validated against your lease, ledger, notice, and license status before submission, and routed to the Ellicott City courthouse automatically.
• Court hearing representation: $249 by an experienced Maryland agent who knows the District 10 docket.
• Warrant of Restitution: $199, filed on the correct post-judgment timeline, court fee included.
• Sheriff scheduling ($49) and eviction day coordination ($225) through to possession.

Free to start. $99 total if the tenant cures after filing. $298 through the warrant stage in an uncontested case. Every stage price includes that stage's court fees, and the whole case file, notice, complaint, receipts, and proofs of service, lives in one place when the judge asks for it.

Related reading:

• How to Fill Out DC-CV-082: A Field-by-Field Maryland Filing Guide
• How Long Does an Eviction Take in Maryland?
• Maryland Eviction Notice Requirements by County
• Maryland's 10-Day Notice Requirement
• The Maryland FTPR Process, Step by Step

Ready to start a Howard County case? The first step is free: