Your Right to Habitable Housing in Maryland

Maryland law treats every residential lease as a promise that the home is fit to live in, meaning free of defects that are a fire hazard or a serious threat to the life, health, or safety of the people living there (Real Property section 8-212). If your landlord does not fix such a defect within a reasonable time after proper notice, and more than 30 days is presumed unreasonable, you can ask the District Court to let you pay rent into a court escrow account under Real Property section 8-211, use the defect as a defense if the landlord sues for rent, or sue for damages and a rent reduction. Cosmetic flaws and a lack of air conditioning are presumed not to qualify for rent escrow unless they create a serious danger, but since June 1, 2026, a separate law has required air conditioning in many apartment buildings with 10 or more units.

Which conditions qualify

The law covers conditions that are dangerous now and conditions that will become dangerous if not promptly fixed. The rent escrow law lists these examples:

• No heat, light, electricity, or hot or cold running water, unless you pay that utility and service stopped because you did not pay the bill
• Inadequate sewage disposal
• Rodents in two or more units of the building
• A structural defect that seriously threatens your physical safety
• Any other condition that is a health or fire hazard in the unit

Four things are presumed not covered unless they seriously threaten health or safety: missing paint, carpet, or other decorative finishes; small cracks in walls, floors, or ceilings; floors without linoleum or tile that are otherwise safe and sound; and no air conditioning. Minor defects and code violations that are not dangerous are excluded.

Air conditioning now has its own rule, Real Property section 8-122. In apartment buildings with 10 or more units, landlords must provide it from June 1 through September 30 in newly built units and in units where, at any time since January 1, 2025, the landlord supplied air conditioning or a lease required it. Units whose electrical or heating systems are replaced or substantially upgraded are covered from October 1, 2026. New construction and renovations count only if the building permit was issued on or after June 1, 2026. If the landlord controls the system, it must keep each habitable room at 80°F or cooler; if you control it, the landlord must keep it working and able to reach that temperature. Buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and some older Baltimore City public housing are exempt. The law sets out no separate tenant remedy, so put cooling complaints in writing; a lack of cooling that seriously threatens health can still support rent escrow.

The rent escrow law and the section 8-212 warranty cover every Maryland residential rental, single-family or multi-unit, except farm tenancies. Like the general implied warranty of habitability, the section 8-212 warranty starts when the tenancy begins and lasts for its whole term. The landlord has a defense if you, your family, or your guests caused the condition, or if you refused the landlord reasonable access to make the repair.

Step 1: Give notice the law recognizes

Rent escrow and a warranty lawsuit both start with notice to the landlord in one of three forms:

1. A letter sent by certified mail that lists each condition.
2. Actual notice, meaning proof that the landlord knew about the condition, such as a text or email in which the landlord acknowledges it.
3. A written violation, condemnation, or other notice from a state, county, city, or local government agency that describes the condition.

The landlord then gets a reasonable time to make the repair. A judge decides what is reasonable based on how severe and dangerous the condition is, and a period of more than 30 days after the landlord received notice is presumed unreasonable. Requesting repairs in Maryland covers the first repair request.

Step 2: File for rent escrow or raise it as a defense

Rent escrow means paying your rent to the court instead of the landlord until the problem is resolved. To start a case:

1. Fill out a Complaint for Rent Escrow (form DC-CV-083) and file it in the District Court for the county where the rental is located. The court's March 2026 cost schedule lists a $46 filing fee, plus $60 for each landlord served by a sheriff or constable.
2. The court sets a hearing date. The landlord, or its resident agent (the person a business registers to receive court papers), must be personally served.
3. Pay your rent into the court's escrow account as it comes due. Relief depends on paying the rent your lease requires into court, unless the judge sets a different amount. Some counties take the first payment when you file; others open the account at the hearing.
4. At the hearing, bring photos, your notice and proof of receipt, any inspection report, and receipts for costs the condition caused, such as a space heater bought during a heat outage.

You cannot use rent escrow if the court entered three judgments of possession (orders letting the landlord retake the unit) against you for unpaid rent in the 12 months before the case. That limit applies to monthly leases; weekly tenancies have different limits. In Baltimore City, the local escrow law bars escrow only after more than five such judgments in the past year, or three if you have lived in the unit 6 months or less. Several tenants can join one case as plaintiffs.

You can also stop paying the landlord and raise the conditions as a defense when the landlord files a case for rent or possession. Either side can ask the judge to postpone a failure-to-pay-rent trial to gather evidence about the conditions. Keep the rent money available; the same pay-into-court condition applies when you raise escrow as a defense. The Maryland Court Help Center (410-260-1392) gives tenants free legal advice, though not representation.

What the judge can order

After the hearing, the court can order any combination of these:

• The landlord must make the repairs.
• The rent is reduced (abated) by an amount the court finds fair; the law presumes you are entitled to a reduction of future rent.
• The lease ends and the unit goes back to the landlord.
• The case is dismissed.

Escrowed money can be paid to the landlord after repairs, used to pay for the repairs or a court-appointed special administrator who arranges them, or applied to the mortgage to stop a foreclosure. If no repairs or good-faith repair efforts happen within 6 months after escrow begins, you can ask for the money back; if you stop paying into escrow, the court can release it to the landlord.

Within 90 days after the court finds the conditions exist, if the landlord still has not fixed them, you can petition the District Court for an injunction ordering the repairs. When the court grants you any relief, you can recover reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, and litigation expenses. A tenant whose case is found to be in bad faith or without substantial justification can be ordered to pay the landlord's.

The section 8-212 warranty gives you a second route that does not require paying rent into court. With the same notice and the same landlord defenses, you can sue for actual damages and a reduction of unpaid rent, or ask the court to end the lease, return the unused part of your security deposit, and pay your relocation expenses. Attorney's fees follow the same rules as in escrow cases.

How local code enforcement fits in

Ask the city or county agency that enforces your local housing code to inspect. A written violation notice from a government agency counts as notice to the landlord under the escrow law, which starts the landlord's repair period, and the inspector's findings are evidence of the condition. The Maryland Judiciary suggests talking with a lawyer about how to get the inspector to testify at your hearing. The state escrow law yields to local laws that cover more tenants or protect them more, such as Baltimore City's.

Calling an inspector is also protected by the state's retaliation law, one of the basic rights every tenant has. A landlord may not file or threaten an eviction, arbitrarily raise rent or cut services, or end a periodic tenancy, such as month-to-month, because you made a good-faith complaint to the landlord or a public agency about a lease or legal violation or a serious health or safety condition. You must be current on rent unless you are withholding it under the escrow law, and landlord actions more than 6 months after your complaint are not covered. A court can award up to 3 months' rent plus attorney's fees; Maryland eviction protections explains how to raise retaliation in court.

Lead paint rules for rentals built before 1978

Maryland's Reduction of Lead Risk in Housing law covers rental units built before 1978, unless the unit has been certified lead-free. For covered units, the landlord must:

• Register the property with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and keep the registration current.
• Have the unit pass a full risk reduction inspection by an MDE-accredited inspector before each new tenant moves in.
• Give you MDE's Notice of Tenant's Rights and a copy of the unit's lead inspection certificate on or before move-in day. You can check a certificate with MDE's online Lead Certificate search.

If you see chipping, peeling, or flaking paint, or a structural defect causing it, send the landlord a written notice of defect by certified mail, return receipt requested, or hand-deliver it and get the owner's or manager's signature. MDE's Notice of Tenant's Rights includes a form. The landlord then has 30 days to meet the modified risk reduction standard, a passing lead-dust test plus lead hazard repairs by an MDE-accredited contractor, or to move you temporarily to lead-safe housing. Children under 6 and pregnant women may not be in the home during the work, and if you must leave for more than 24 hours, the landlord pays your reasonable relocation expenses.

If the 30 days pass without compliance, you have three options:

1. Make a referral to MDE's Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at 800-776-2706 or 410-537-3825, with a copy of your notice and proof the landlord received it.
2. File for rent escrow in the District Court and pay your rent into the court's account. MDE says that for a lead case, you only need to prove the landlord is out of compliance with the lead law. Any attempt to evict you or raise your rent within 2 months after the landlord complies, other than for nonpayment of rent, is presumed retaliatory and void.
3. Ask the landlord in writing to release you from the lease, including any risk reduction certificate information MDE gave you. Unless the landlord gives you, within 3 business days, a current risk reduction certificate, a lead-free certificate, or proof that the required work was done, it must release you and pay up to $2,500 in reasonable costs of moving to a lead-safe unit. If it does neither, you can sue in District Court for the release, those costs, and attorney's fees.

If the landlord of a pre-1978 rental files a failure-to-pay-rent case, the complaint must state that the property is registered with MDE and give the inspection certificate number for your tenancy. MDE says a complaint missing this information may be dismissed. Federal disclosure rules for older housing also apply; lead paint in rentals covers them.