Right of Redemption in Maryland: A Landlord's 2026 Guide to the Tender Rule, the NRR Exception, and Eviction-Day Mechanics

Maryland's right of redemption is the most misunderstood part of a Failure to Pay Rent case. Landlords frequently assume the right ends when the warrant is filed, or when the sheriff is scheduled, or some fixed number of days after judgment. None of those are correct. The right runs up to the moment of actual execution of the eviction order — and it can be exercised in cash at the door while the sheriff is unlocking the unit. This is the statute-cited walkthrough, for landlords who want to know exactly what the rule is and where the practical edges are.

The redemption right is broader than most landlords expect and narrower than most tenants expect. It runs to the moment of execution — but only in three specific payment forms, and only for the amounts the court has actually awarded.

The right of redemption is codified at Md. Code, Real Property § 8-401(h). The exception — No Right of Redemption (NRR) — appears at § 8-401(h)(3) with a statewide default that Baltimore City overrides with a stricter local rule under its Public Local Laws. For the upstream judgment process see The Maryland FTPR Process, Step by Step. For the warrant timeline the redemption right runs against, see Maryland Warrant of Restitution Timeline.

The Statutory Right — Plain English

Section 8-401(h)(1) gives the tenant the right to redeem the tenancy by tendering, "in cash, certified check, or money order to the landlord or the landlord's agent," all of the following:

• Past-due rent, as determined by the court
• All late fees the court has determined to be due and unpaid
• All court-awarded costs and fees

If the tender is valid and accepted (or otherwise meets the statutory requirements), the complaint is entered as satisfied. The judgment for possession is discharged. The tenancy continues as if the case had not been filed.

This is not a discretionary right. It is statutory. A landlord who refuses a properly-formed tender of the full amount has rejected a valid redemption and exposed themselves to a defective-execution claim.

What Must Be Tendered — The Four Components

A redemption tender that satisfies § 8-401(h)(1) must cover all four components below. Anything less is partial tender (covered later) and does not satisfy the right.

1. Past-due rent (court-determined)

The amount on the judgment, not the amount the landlord originally demanded on the notice or the complaint. If the court reduced the claim from $3,000 to $2,400 because of a partial payment during the notice period, $2,400 is what must be tendered. Always work from the judgment ledger, not the filing ledger.

2. Late fees (court-determined, ≤ 5% of monthly rent)

Maryland's 2025 Tenants' Bill of Rights caps late fees at 5% of monthly rent statewide. A judgment that included late fees in excess of 5% will have had those fees reduced by the court. The tendered amount must match the post-reduction figure. For the TBOR late-fee cap detail see Maryland's Tenants' Bill of Rights: Landlord Compliance Guide.

3. Court costs

The filing fee for DC-CV-082 (typically $46-$56 depending on jurisdiction; $51 in Baltimore City with the service surcharge), plus any other costs the court awarded. The DC-CV-081 filing fee ($40-$50) is generally included if the warrant has already been filed.

4. Any other fees the court awarded

Some cases include sheriff fees, witness fees, or specifically ordered service costs. The judgment will itemize them. If it's in the judgment, it must be in the tender.

Acceptable Payment Forms — And What You Don't Have to Take

The statute is specific. Cash, certified check, or money order. That's the closed list.

What this means in practice:

• Cash — full face value of the tender, in the currency. Document with a written receipt, ideally co-signed by the tenant.
• Certified check — drawn on a bank, with funds verified by the issuing bank. Different from a cashier's check; a certified check is the tenant's check with the bank's certification that the funds are available. The statute uses "certified check" — cashier's checks are generally accepted in practice, but technically optional under a strict reading.
• Money order — issued by a bank, post office, Western Union, MoneyGram, or similar. Verify the amount matches the tender requirement before accepting.

What you don't have to accept:

• Personal check — even if the tenant insists it will clear. The statute does not list personal checks.
• Promise to pay — verbal or written assurances of future payment. Not a tender.
• Partial cash with promise for the rest — not a complete tender (see "Partial Tender" below).
• Credit card, ACH, Venmo, Zelle, or other digital payment — not on the statutory list. Some landlords accept them as a business courtesy but are not required to.

When the Right Ends — Actual Execution

This is the single most important fact about the redemption right, and the one most landlords get wrong:

The right of redemption extends up to the moment of actual execution of the eviction order.

It does not end when:

• The warrant of restitution is filed
• The judge signs the warrant
• The sheriff schedules the eviction
• The sheriff arrives at the property
• The locksmith arrives
• The tenant is asked to leave

It ends when the sheriff has physically restored possession to the landlord — typically when the locks have been changed and the landlord has control of the unit. A tenant who walks up to the landlord on the front lawn with a certified check for the full amount, while the sheriff is still on-site and possession has not yet fully transferred, has presented a valid tender.

In practice, sheriffs in Baltimore City and most Maryland jurisdictions will pause the execution if the tenant is actively producing the tendered amount and the landlord is on-site to verify. This is not a courtesy; it is a recognition that the statutory right has not yet expired.

The 5-Business-Day Post-Trial Wait

Separate from the tenant's redemption right, Maryland practice imposes a wait on the landlord before the warrant can be filed. DC-CV-081 cannot be filed until at least the fifth business day after trial. The wait gives the tenant time to exercise the redemption right at a less-pressured moment than the eviction-day door, and it also accommodates appeal rights.

The two clocks run independently:

• Landlord clock: must wait 5 business days post-trial before filing the warrant
• Tenant clock: may redeem at any time before actual execution

So even after the warrant is filed and signed and the sheriff is scheduled, the tenant's redemption right continues to run. For the two 60-day clocks that govern the warrant itself, see Maryland Warrant of Restitution Timeline.

Partial Tender, Payment Plans, and the Risk of Implied Acceptance

A tenant offering less than the full tender amount creates a landlord-side risk: accepting partial cash without a written understanding can be argued later as implied acceptance of redemption.

Two clean handling patterns:

Option A — Refuse outright. Document the partial tender offer, the amount, the form, and the time. Decline and proceed with execution. Keep the documentation in the case file.

Option B — Formalize as a written consent or court order. If you'd rather negotiate a payment plan than evict, memorialize the arrangement in writing — ideally as a consent order entered on the court record. The court order is enforceable; a verbal payment plan is not. The consent order can include terms such as: tenant pays $X by date Y, default triggers immediate execution without further notice, etc.

What to avoid:

• Accepting partial cash "to be helpful" without documentation
• Accepting a partial tender and intending to proceed with execution anyway
• Relying on a verbal "the tenant will pay the rest by Friday" arrangement

Either path you choose — full refusal or formal plan — is defensible. The middle ground (informal partial acceptance) is the risk zone.

The NRR Exception — State Default vs Baltimore City Local Rule

The right of redemption can be eliminated entirely on filings where the tenant has accumulated prior judgments. But the threshold differs depending on jurisdiction:

Statewide default — § 8-401(h)(3)

The right of redemption does not apply to a tenant against whom three judgments of possession for rent due and unpaid have already been entered in the 12 months immediately prior to the current filing.

Practically: a tenant with 3 priors gets NRR on the fourth FTPR filing within a rolling 12-month window. Most Maryland counties operate on this rule.

Baltimore City — Public Local Laws §§ 9-1 to 9-8

Baltimore City applies a stricter local threshold: four judgments of possession in the prior 12 months are required before NRR can be requested. So in Baltimore City, NRR is available on the fifth FTPR filing within the 12-month window — not the fourth.

The Baltimore rule is more tenant-friendly than the state default. It is a local override permitted under Maryland's general rule that local jurisdictions may add tenant protections beyond the state floor (though not below it).

NRR Must Be Requested on the Original DC-CV-082

NRR is not something you can add after the case is filed or after judgment. It must be checked or requested on the original DC-CV-082 when the case is filed. If you forget, the redemption right runs in the current case regardless of how many priors exist. To get NRR you'd have to dismiss and refile — which restarts the timeline.

For DC-CV-082 prep including the NRR election, see How to Fill Out DC-CV-082.

Eviction Day — How the Mechanics Actually Work

On the scheduled eviction date, three parties show up at the unit:

• The landlord (or agent), with the warrant and a locksmith
• The sheriff, with statutory authority to restore possession
• Sometimes the tenant, with either an attempt to redeem or the intent to vacate

If the tenant produces a certified check or money order for the full court-determined amount:

1. The sheriff will typically pause execution to allow the landlord to verify the tender amount and instrument.
2. The landlord (or agent) verifies the instrument is valid and the amount matches the judgment.
3. If valid, the tender is accepted, a receipt is issued, and the sheriff stands down. The complaint is entered as satisfied; the tenancy continues.
4. If invalid (wrong amount, personal check, unverifiable instrument), the landlord declines, documents the refusal, and the sheriff resumes execution.

If the tender comes in cash, the landlord may count and verify on the spot. Many landlords carry a written receipt template for exactly this scenario.

Section 8 Tenants and Redemption

Section 8 tenants have the same redemption right as market-rate tenants — but the tender amount is computed differently. The tenant's obligation is only their share (typically 30 percent of household income); the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) covers the rest under the Housing Assistance Payment contract between the landlord and the Public Housing Authority.

A redemption tender for a Section 8 tenant covers:

• The tenant's past-due share of rent (not the full market rent)
• All late fees the court determined to be due
• All court-awarded costs and fees

Demanding the full market rent — including HAP amounts the PHA paid or didn't pay — from a Section 8 tenant on redemption is incorrect and can be raised by tenant counsel as an improper tender demand. For the full Section 8 framework see our Section 8 Eviction in Maryland guide.

Common Redemption Errors

1. Refusing a properly-formed certified check or money order for the full court-determined amount. The right is statutory; refusal is rejection of a valid tender.
2. Demanding the wrong amount. Working from the filing-date ledger instead of the judgment ledger. The court may have reduced the claim; the redemption amount is the post-reduction judgment.
3. Accepting partial cash without documentation. Creates an implied-acceptance argument later.
4. Treating warrant signing as the end of the redemption right. The right continues until actual execution.
5. Adding NRR after filing. Cannot be done. NRR is a filing- time election on the DC-CV-082.

How EvictPro Handles the Redemption Workflow

EvictPro tracks redemption mechanics as a first-class part of the Maryland FTPR workflow — not an afterthought. The same platform that handles a single landlord's first redemption tender at the door handles an enterprise firm's portfolio-level redemption tracking across hundreds of cases.

What's tracked and surfaced

• Per-case judgment ledger showing the exact court-determined amount that must be tendered for valid redemption — including rent, court-determined late fees (capped at 5% of monthly rent per TBOR), and court costs.
• 5-business-day post-trial wait timer so the warrant petition isn't filed prematurely.
• NRR election captured on the DC-CV-082 at filing time, with prior-judgment count verification against the 3-statewide / 4-Baltimore-City threshold.
• Tender documentation — built-in receipt templates for cash acceptance, refusal logs for invalid tender forms, and consent order templates for partial-tender payment plans.
• Section 8 tenant flagging — when a case is tagged as Section 8, the redemption amount auto-computes only the tenant's share, not the full market rent.

Stage-based pricing (court fees inclusive)

• Notice of Intent: $0 — free, no account required
• Filing with Court: $99 — DC-CV-082 prep, filing, and court fee, with NRR election workflow
• Court Hearing: $249 — hearing representation via an experienced agent, document package
• Warrant of Restitution: $199 — DC-CV-081 prep, filing, and court fee, with 5-business-day timer
• Sheriff Scheduling: $49 — coordination with the sheriff's office
• Eviction Day: $225 — on-site presence with tender-handling procedure built in

Or bundle with Full Eviction Service: $749 — every stage above included, end-to-end. Court fees are inside the stage prices, never billed separately.

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Related reading:

• Maryland Warrant of Restitution Timeline
• How to Fill Out DC-CV-082: A Field-by-Field Maryland Filing Guide
• The Maryland FTPR Process, Step by Step
• Section 8 Eviction in Maryland: A Landlord's 2026 Guide
• Maryland's Tenants' Bill of Rights: Landlord Compliance Guide
• Maryland's 10-Day Notice Requirement
• How to Evict a Tenant in Maryland — The Complete 2026 Guide

Ready to file a case with NRR elected correctly, or to track redemption tenders without losing the eviction? Start with a clean Notice of Intent: