# Maryland Tenants' Bill of Rights (2025): The Landlord Compliance Checklist Maryland's first statewide Tenants' Bill of Rights takes effect October 1, 2025. Here's what landlords must do — lease attachment, late fee cap, 24-hour entry rule, 90-day rent increase notice, and the pre-filing compliance traps. - Published: 2026-04-18 (updated 2026-05-13) - Author: Jordan Walsh - Canonical: https://www.evictpro.us/blog/maryland-tenants-bill-of-rights-landlord --- Maryland became the twelfth state — and the first in the mid-Atlantic — to enact a statewide Tenants' Bill of Rights when the General Assembly passed House Bill 693 in 2024. The new law took effect **October 1, 2025**, and landlords across the state are now operating under requirements most of them haven't fully internalized. > The Tenants' Bill of Rights is the single biggest shift in Maryland landlord-tenant law since the 14-to-10-day notice amendment. Compliance isn't optional — it's a pre-filing defense tenants can raise. This is the operational checklist. What's in the law, what you have to do differently, the dollar amounts that changed, and the new pre-filing compliance steps that are already getting cases dismissed in Baltimore and Montgomery county dockets. - **Oct 1, 2025**: Effective date (HB 693 (2024)) - **5%**: Max late fee (Of overdue rent) - **90 days**: Rent increase notice (Up from 60) **The short version:** October 1, 2025 was the effective date. Attach the Bill of Rights to every new/renewing lease, cap late fees at 5% of monthly rent, give 90 days' written notice before any rent increase, give 24 hours' written notice before entering a unit, and write a lease if you have 5+ units. Get those right and the Bill of Rights is an operational update, not a dismissal risk. ## What Is the Tenants' Bill of Rights? The formal title is the [Maryland Tenants' Bill of Rights](https://dhcd.maryland.gov/Tenant-Landlord-Affairs/Pages/Tenants-Bill-of-Rights.aspx), authorized by [House Bill 693 (2024) — Renters' Rights and Stabilization Act](https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb0693?ys=2024RS) and codified as amendments to Title 8 of the Real Property Article of the Maryland Code. It is administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The law has two halves: 1. **A standardized disclosure document** — a 2-page DHCD-published statement of tenant rights that must be attached to every new or renewing lease. 2. **New substantive protections** — statutory requirements that override lease terms to the contrary. These are the ones that change what landlords can charge and how they can manage their properties. **Effective for leases on or after Oct 1, 2025:** The law does not retroactively bind leases signed before October 1, 2025 — but **renewals, extensions, and material modifications** after that date do trigger compliance. Most landlords will have at least some TBOR-subject leases by April 2026. ## The Five Substantive Changes That Matter Most ### 1. 5% Late Fee Cap Maryland caps late fees at **5% of the overdue monthly rent**. - Monthly rent $1,200 → max late fee $60 - Monthly rent $1,500 → max late fee $75 - Monthly rent $2,000 → max late fee $100 Leases that specify higher late fees — "$50 flat plus $10/day" or "$100 after the 5th" — are unenforceable to the extent they exceed 5%. The court will void the excess portion but keep the 5% portion. **Your lease template may not comply:** Many Maryland lease templates published before 2024 specify late fees at 10%, flat-dollar amounts, or daily-accruing penalties that exceed the 5% cap. Audit your lease template. Charging an excessive late fee and then filing FTPR for the full amount is a dismissal risk. ### 2. 90-Day Rent Increase Notice Before a TBOR, rent increase notice requirements varied by locality — 60 days in Montgomery County, 60 days in Baltimore City for most cases, often shorter elsewhere. The Bill of Rights standardizes at **90 days written notice** statewide for: - Rent increases at lease renewal - Rent increases on month-to-month leases - Any material change to lease terms that affects rent The notice must be in writing, delivered via the same methods accepted for statutory notices (personal, posting, or certified mail). ### 3. 24-Hour Entry Notice Landlords must provide **at least 24 hours' written notice** before entering a rental unit, except for emergencies. The notice must include: - The date of entry - The approximate time (a reasonable window, not "sometime Tuesday") - The purpose (inspection, repair, showing, etc.) **Emergencies are exempt** — fire, flood, burst pipe, gas leak, criminal activity in progress. Everything else is subject to the notice rule, including: - Routine quarterly inspections - Scheduled maintenance or repairs - Prospective tenant showings during lease termination - Appraiser visits for refinance or sale - HVAC service, pest control, or landscaping if it requires unit entry ### 4. Mandatory Written Lease for 5+ Unit Landlords If you own **five or more dwelling units statewide**, you must use a written lease for every tenancy. Oral or month-to-month-handshake arrangements are no longer permitted at that scale. Landlords with 1-4 units are exempt from the written-lease requirement — but **strongly encouraged** to use one anyway, because most other TBOR protections are easier to establish and enforce when they're documented in writing. ### 5. Standard Disclosure Attached to Every Lease Every new or renewing lease must include, as an attachment or appendix, the DHCD-published standard Tenants' Bill of Rights statement. The tenant must sign an acknowledgment of receipt. **The disclosure attachment is the easy one to miss:** It's a 2-page document with a signature line. Most landlords forget it on the first few post-October-2025 leases. If you haven't updated your lease package, do it now — failure to attach is the easiest TBOR defense for a tenant to raise at an FTPR hearing. ## What This Means for Eviction Cases The TBOR creates **new pre-filing defenses** that tenants can raise at a Failure to Pay Rent hearing. If any of these are missing or defective, the judge may dismiss: - **No TBOR attached to lease:** Defense that the tenancy itself is not in compliance. Some judges have dismissed on this ground alone. - **Late fee above 5% claimed:** The judgment will be reduced to the rent + 5% late fee cap. If the reduction takes the amount below what the tenant paid, the case is dismissed. - **Rent increase without 90-day notice:** If the arrears include an increase served on less than 90 days, that portion is stripped. If the stripped arrears drop below the amount the tenant paid, case dismissed. - **Entry-notice violation in last 90 days:** Can support tenant counterclaim or offset against rent owed. **Audit your TBOR compliance before every filing:** Before you file DC-CV-082, run through the TBOR checklist below. Every "yes" on a non-compliance item is a potential dismissal. Fix first, file second. ## The Pre-Filing Compliance Checklist Run this before every new FTPR filing on a lease signed or renewed after October 1, 2025: - [ ] Tenants' Bill of Rights attached to the lease at signing - [ ] Tenant signed acknowledgment of receipt - [ ] Late fee in lease is ≤ 5% of monthly rent - [ ] Late fee on the 10-day notice is ≤ 5% of monthly rent - [ ] If rent was increased during the tenancy, 90-day written notice was served for each increase - [ ] Any lease modification that affected rent was served with adequate notice - [ ] No entry-notice violations in the past 90 days - [ ] All 10-day notice elements present (per state statute) - [ ] Baltimore City: rental registration current at filing - [ ] Baltimore City: lead paint certificate current at filing - [ ] Complaint amount matches notice amount (net of any partial payments) **Compliance built into the filing process**: https://www.evictpro.us/notice-of-intent ## Early Enforcement Patterns in Baltimore and Montgomery Six months in, the enforcement patterns are starting to show: ### Baltimore City District Court Judges have been most aggressive on the **late-fee cap** — any claim that includes a late fee over 5% gets reduced from the bench, with a bias toward dismissal rather than reduction if the over-claimed amount is material to the overall arrears calculation. Missing TBOR attachments are increasingly being raised by the tenant bar (including Access to Counsel program attorneys), with dismissal outcomes on roughly half of cases where it's raised. ### Montgomery County District Court Montgomery judges have focused more on the **90-day rent increase notice** requirement. A meaningful share of dismissals trace back to landlords who served 60-day rent-increase notices under the old pre-TBOR standard and then tried to collect the increased rent. ### Rest of Maryland Smaller jurisdictions are applying the rules but with less consistency. Landlords in Anne Arundel, Howard, and Prince George's counties have reported mixed outcomes — judges are still calibrating. ## What to Update in Your Lease Package If you haven't refreshed your lease template since mid-2025, take an hour and do these updates: 1. **Add the TBOR disclosure as an exhibit.** Download the current version from the [DHCD Tenants' Bill of Rights page](https://dhcd.maryland.gov/Tenant-Landlord-Affairs/Pages/Tenants-Bill-of-Rights.aspx). 2. **Change any late-fee clause to "5% of monthly rent."** Remove flat dollar amounts or daily-accruing structures. 3. **Add the 24-hour entry language.** A 2-sentence clause suffices — many landlord associations publish model language. 4. **Update renewal procedures to use 90-day notice.** Calendar tool, reminder, or property management software — whatever works. 5. **Add a written-lease requirement** if you're at or above 5 units. 6. **Add signature blocks** for the TBOR acknowledgment. **Do it once, benefit forever:** An hour of lease-template work today prevents months of case-by-case dismissal risk. The updated template will serve every new lease you sign for the next several years. The cheapest compliance is the compliance you bake into standard operating procedure. ## What the Tenants' Bill of Rights Does NOT Change Worth noting what did **not** change: - **10-day notice for FTPR** remains 10 days (not re-lengthened) - **DC-CV-082 and DC-CV-081 process** unchanged - **Right of Redemption / No Right of Redemption** rules unchanged - **Baltimore City rental registration** requirement unchanged (it's a local law, separate from TBOR) - **Lead paint certificate** requirement unchanged (state law, separate) - **Security deposit cap** still 2 months' rent - **FTPR hearing procedure** unchanged — same docket, same judge rules The core eviction process still looks like it did before October 2025. The changes are on the pre-filing side: lease structure, compliance steps, and disclosure. ## Federal and State Law Interaction Maryland tenants also retain rights under federal law — [Fair Housing Act](https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_act_overview), Americans with Disabilities Act, Violence Against Women Act certifications, and so on. TBOR is additive, not replacing. A tenant can raise a federal defense _and_ a TBOR defense in the same hearing. Landlords navigating both should consider legal counsel or a structured platform service rather than going it alone, especially for Section 8 tenancies or cases involving protected-class allegations. **Not legal advice**: This article is general educational information about Maryland landlord-tenant law and procedure. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws, court fees, and local rules change over time. For advice on your specific situation, consult a licensed Maryland attorney or a qualified housing counselor. **Related reading:** - [How to Evict a Tenant in Maryland — The Complete 2026 Guide](/blog/how-to-evict-tenant-maryland) - [Maryland's 10-Day Notice Requirement: What Landlords Need to Know in 2026](/blog/maryland-10-day-notice) - [What Does a Baltimore Eviction Actually Cost in 2026?](/blog/baltimore-eviction-cost) Ready to refresh your compliance stack? Start with a Notice of Intent generator that already bakes in the 5% late-fee cap and every other post-TBOR requirement: **Generate a TBOR-compliant notice**: https://www.evictpro.us/notice-of-intent ## Frequently asked questions ### When does Maryland's Tenants' Bill of Rights take effect? October 1, 2025. Maryland House Bill 693 (2024) created the state's first statewide Tenants' Bill of Rights, effective for leases signed or renewed on or after October 1, 2025. Leases signed before that date are not retroactively bound, but any renewal, extension, or material modification after October 1 triggers the new requirements. ### Do I have to attach the Tenants' Bill of Rights to every lease? Yes. Under the new law, landlords must provide every new or renewing tenant with the Department of Housing and Community Development's standard Tenants' Bill of Rights disclosure at the time the lease is signed or renewed. The tenant signs an acknowledgment. Failure to attach is a pre-filing compliance trap — some courts treat it as a defense against a subsequent FTPR case. ### What is the maximum late fee in Maryland in 2025? Five percent (5%) of the overdue monthly rent amount. Maryland's Tenants' Bill of Rights caps late fees at 5% of the overdue monthly rent — for example, if monthly rent is $1,500, the maximum late fee is $75. Leases that specify higher late fees are unenforceable to the extent they exceed 5%. ### How much notice must a Maryland landlord give before a rent increase? Ninety (90) days. Under the Tenants' Bill of Rights, Maryland landlords must provide at least 90 days' written notice before any rent increase on a month-to-month lease or at lease renewal. This is stronger than the prior 60-day standard in most jurisdictions. ### What is the 24-hour entry notice rule? Landlords must provide tenants with at least 24 hours' written notice before entering the rental unit, except in emergencies. The notice must state the date, approximate time, and purpose of entry. Emergencies — fire, flood, serious utility issue — are exempt. Routine maintenance, inspections, and showings all require 24-hour notice. ### Are written leases required in Maryland now? Yes, for any landlord who owns five or more dwelling units statewide. The Tenants' Bill of Rights mandates a written lease for landlords at or above the 5-unit threshold. Small landlords with one to four units are not required to use a written lease, but it is strongly recommended because many of the TBOR protections are triggered by lease terms. ### Does the Tenants' Bill of Rights affect eviction cases? Yes — substantially. If you did not attach the Bill of Rights to the lease, or charged a late fee above the 5% cap, or failed the 24-hour entry rule, the tenant can raise these as defenses at the Failure to Pay Rent hearing. Judges in Baltimore and Montgomery counties have already dismissed cases on these grounds. The compliance calendar matters as much as the notice itself.