Maryland’s October 1 Rental Laws Kick In at Different Portfolio Sizes: Which Ones Reach an Out-of-State Owner

Three Maryland housing laws, containing four separate rental rules, take effect on October 1, 2026, and the state housing department published a plain-language summary on September 22. For an out-of-state owner, the key point is one the summary skips: the laws have different size triggers, and one has no size limit at all. Here is what the chapter laws signed May 26, 2026 say.

The facts: four rules, four different triggers

1. Voucher and subsidy applicants: no unit-count threshold. Chapter 773 (SB 335) adds State Government § 20-705.1. If you use financial information such as credit history to screen applicants, you may not turn down an applicant who pays rent with an “income-based housing subsidy” (a Housing Choice Voucher counts) because of their income, their credit score or lack of one, or bad credit from a period when they did not have the subsidy. The new section itself has no minimum portfolio size. A violation is a “discriminatory housing practice,” enforced by the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights.

The same text keeps some screening tools. You may require proof that the tenant can pay their share of the rent, using an income-to-tenant-portion ratio “substantially equivalent” to the one you use for unsubsidized tenants. Landlord references and a history of lease violations, unpaid utilities, nuisance or property damage can still be used in a commercially reasonable, nondiscriminatory way. You may not require the housing authority to confirm subsidy dates before you consider credit history.

2. Positive rent reporting: six or more units in Maryland. The same chapter adds Real Property § 8-208.4. It applies “only to a landlord that owns six or more residential rental units in the State.” A landlord that is covered must offer tenants the option to have on-time rent payments reported to at least one consumer reporting agency:

• for leases signed on or after October 1, 2026, at signing and at least once a year after that;
• for existing leases, by January 1, 2027, and then once a year;
• by first-class mail with a certificate of mailing (with a stamped return envelope), tracked delivery, or e-delivery if the tenant opted in.

The fee is capped at the lower of your actual cost or $10 a month. The fee is not rent and its payment may not be reported. The offer has to follow a form set by DHCD regulation. As of September 28 we had not found final regulations, so check DHCD before you mail anything.

3. Criminal-history screening: five or more units, counted across entities. Chapter 752 (SB 937), the Maryland Fair Chance Housing Act, creates Real Property Title 8, Subtitle 2A. It covers a landlord that “manages or owns five or more residential rental units in the State,” counting units owned or controlled “in whole or in part,” “directly or indirectly,” or “through one or more legal entities.” Owner-occupied rental units are excluded. According to the enrolled fiscal note, the main rules are:

• You must give a written notice about criminal-history screening before you accept an application fee.
• Before a conditional offer, you may ask only about a short list of convictions (certain sex offenses and lifetime registration, first- and second-degree murder, human trafficking, child pornography, and methamphetamine production in federally assisted housing).
• After a conditional offer, you may consider felony convictions from the five years before the application. You may withdraw the offer only to protect a “substantial, legitimate, and nondiscriminatory interest,” you must give the specific reason in writing, and the applicant can ask for a reassessment.
• If you run checks, run them on every applicant. Drug and alcohol testing is banned.
• Penalties are up to $500 per violation. The act preempts comparable local ordinances.

4. Air conditioning: buildings with 10 or more units. SB 12 (Chapter 664) requires cooling to 80°F from June 1 to September 30. Per DHCD it applies only to certain units in apartment buildings with 10 or more units, so most small owners are outside it.

One thing that did not become law: HB 80, the mandatory-fee disclosure bill with an October 1, 2026 effective date, passed the House but its record ends at a Senate committee hearing.

What it means if you own from out of state

Interpretation, not fact. The subsidy rule is the one most likely to catch small owners, because it has no size threshold and it targets the screening step you have probably handed to a property manager or a listing platform. A hypothetical filter such as “minimum 600 credit score, income 3x the full rent” may now be a discriminatory practice when the applicant has a voucher. The practical fix is a separate path for subsidized applicants: income ratio on the tenant’s share only, no credit-score cutoff.

Counting units is where LLC owners go wrong. The Fair Chance Act expressly adds together units held through different entities, so four single-property LLCs plus a duplex put you over five. The rent-reporting section says “owns six or more” without that aggregation language. Whether separate LLCs are counted together there is not settled in the text. Ask a Maryland attorney before relying on the entity structure to stay under six.

Checklist before October 1

1. Count your Maryland units the way SB 937 does: every unit you own or control, in whole or in part, directly or through any entity.
2. Ask your manager for the written screening criteria, and confirm there is a separate path for voucher holders that looks only at the tenant’s share and has no credit-score cutoff.
3. If you have five or more units and run background checks, confirm the pre-application-fee notice and the conditional-offer workflow are in place. Watch DHCD for its model forms.
4. If you have six or more units, add the rent-reporting option to new leases and calendar the January 1, 2027 offer for existing tenants.
5. Keep proof of delivery for every notice.

For the underlying management questions, see our guides on how to hire a property management company, managing an out-of-state rental yourself, and whether out-of-state investing fits you. If you rent to voucher holders, also read our explainer on Section 8 payment standards that may change October 1.

This article is for general educational purposes only and is not legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. Laws change and their application depends on your specific facts. Consult a licensed Maryland attorney or other qualified professional before making decisions about your rental property.