Maryland Eviction Notice Requirements by County: The 2026 Landlord Guide

Ask ten Maryland landlords how much notice an eviction requires and you'll get ten answers, because Maryland doesn't have one eviction notice. It has two layers of notice at two different points in the case, and since October 1, 2025, the second layer varies by county.

Layer one comes before you file anything: the pre-filing notice that gives your case the right to exist. Layer two comes at the very end, after judgment and warrant: the notice of the scheduled eviction date itself. Getting layer one wrong dismisses your case. Getting layer two wrong cancels your eviction after you've already won.

This guide covers both layers, county by county, as the rules stand in 2026.

The 10-day notice decides whether your case survives the courtroom. The eviction-date notice decides whether the sheriff shows up. Different forms, different day counts, different consequences.

Layer One: The Pre-Filing Notices

Which pre-filing notice you serve depends on the type of case, not the county. These rules are statewide.

Failure to Pay Rent: the 10-day Notice of Intent (DC-CV-115)

For nonpayment cases, Md. Code, Real Property § 8-401(c) requires a written Notice of Intent to File a Claim before you can file the complaint. The Maryland Judiciary publishes the required form as DC-CV-115.

The rules that matter:

• 10 calendar days, counted from service. The period must fully run before you file. Day 11 is the earliest safe filing day.
• Service methods are statutory: first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, affixing the notice to the door of the premises, or electronic delivery (email, text, or tenant portal) if the tenant has elected it. Keep proof of whichever method you use.
• The amount claimed matters. If the tenant pays part of the balance during the notice period, your eventual DC-CV-082 complaint claims only what remains outstanding on the filing date.

For the full walkthrough of what belongs in the notice, see Maryland's 10-Day Notice Requirement and the field-by-field guide to filling out DC-CV-115.

Breach of lease and holdover: different notices, different clocks

The 10-day NOI is FTPR-specific. Other case types carry their own pre-filing notice requirements:

• Breach of lease (Real Property § 8-402.1): a written notice to vacate, generally 30 days, shortened to 14 days where the tenant's behavior demonstrates a clear and imminent danger. The lease must actually authorize repossession for the breach claimed.
• Tenant holding over (Real Property § 8-402): written notice that the tenancy is ending, consistent with the lease term and any longer period required by recent state or local law for month-to-month tenancies. Check the current termination-notice rules for your situation before serving, because these periods have been extended in recent sessions.

If you're not sure which case type fits your facts, that decision comes first, because it dictates the notice, the form, and the timeline.

Layer Two: The Scheduled-Eviction-Date Notice (CC-DC-CV-123)

This is the layer most landlords have never heard of, because it's new. Effective October 1, 2025, HB 767 (2025), codified at Real Property § 8-407, requires the landlord to give the tenant advance written notice of the scheduled eviction date, after the warrant of restitution issues and the sheriff sets a date.

The statewide baseline:

• At least 6 days' notice before the scheduled eviction date.
• Approved methods: first-class mail with a certificate of mailing, posting on the property with photo documentation, or electronic delivery if the tenant agreed to receive notices that way.
• The court form is CC-DC-CV-123, Notice to Tenant of Pending Eviction. Its companion form CC-DC-CV-124 covers a cancelled or rescheduled eviction; verify the current form titles on mdcourts.gov before serving.
• Counties may deviate: the statute lets local jurisdictions set their own period anywhere from 4 to 14 days.

That last point is why this guide exists. The day count you must honor depends on where the property sits.

Eviction-Date Notice Requirements by County

Where the second notice sits in the overall timeline

To place layer two in context, a typical uncontested Maryland nonpayment case runs roughly 45 to 75 days from first notice to eviction day. The sequence: 10-day NOI, filing, a hearing usually two to three weeks out, judgment, the tenant's 4-day appeal window, the warrant request (allow 7 business days after judgment before the warrant can issue, which lands at 9 to 11 calendar days in practice), sheriff scheduling, and then the eviction-date notice on your county's clock before the sheriff arrives. In a 14-day county, that final notice period is often the single longest fixed wait at the end of the case, so it pays to serve it the same day the sheriff gives you a date.

Why the second notice has real teeth

The warrant of restitution runs on two 60-day clocks: it must be requested within 60 days of judgment and executed within 60 days of issuance. A cancelled eviction date, because the eviction-date notice was short or missing, burns days off the execution clock. Burn enough of them and you're petitioning the court for an extension or starting the warrant process over. The details are in the CC-DC-CV-123 eviction-date notice guide and the warrant of restitution timeline.

The Baltimore City Extras

Baltimore City layers additional prerequisites on top of both notice layers for nonpayment cases:

• Current rental license/registration at the time of filing. Expired registration is a dismissal at the bench regardless of how clean your notices were.
• Current lead paint certificate for pre-1978 properties. Same automatic dismissal rule.
• Rent court has moved. Baltimore City rent court now sits at 500 N. Calvert Street, relocated from 501 E. Fayette Street effective October 14, 2025.

See how an expired rental license kills a Baltimore eviction for the full prerequisite checklist.

What Goes Wrong, Layer by Layer

Layer one failures dismiss the case. Filing on day 9 of the 10-day notice, a missing element on the DC-CV-115, no proof of service, or an amount mismatch between notice and complaint all end in dismissal, a lost filing fee, and a restart measured in weeks.

Layer two failures cancel the eviction. The judgment stands, the warrant stands, but the sheriff will not execute without a compliant eviction-date notice. In a 14-day county, serving the statewide 6-day notice is a failure. In Baltimore City, mailing the 14-day notice but skipping the 7-day posting is a failure.

Both layers demand proof. Certificate-of-mailing receipts, dated photos of posted notices with the address visible, and transmission records for electronic service are what survive scrutiny. How to build that record is covered in how to serve an eviction notice in Maryland.

How EvictPro Handles Both Layers

EvictPro is built around exactly this problem: the notice rules are statewide until suddenly they aren't, and the county-level differences are where cases die.

• The Notice of Intent is free. Generate a compliant DC-CV-115 at evictpro.us/notice-of-intent, no account required, with every statutory element covered.
• Filing with Court is $99, base court filing fee included, with Maryland's $5-per-tenant service fee billed at cost. The filing is validated against your notice before submission, so the day count and the amounts reconcile.
• The eviction-date notice is jurisdiction-aware. When your case reaches the warrant stage, the platform applies your county's current day count, Baltimore City's dual mail-plus-posting steps included, and keeps the proof of service in the case file.
• One case file, end to end. From the first notice through the sheriff's date, every form, receipt, and photo lives in one place, whether you manage one rental or a portfolio of hundreds.

Related reading:

• Maryland's 10-Day Notice Requirement: What Landlords Need to Know in 2026
• How to Fill Out DC-CV-115, the Notice of Intent
• CC-DC-CV-123: Maryland's Eviction-Date Notice, Explained
• How to Serve an Eviction Notice in Maryland
• Maryland Warrant of Restitution Timeline
• Baltimore City vs. Baltimore County Evictions

Ready to start with the notice that has to come first? It's free: