2026-09-12 · Maryland · Regulation · Reported — unconfirmed

What happened. Nothing — and that is the story. Maryland has no Task Force on Common Ownership Communities. It has no active workgroup, advisory committee or stakeholder body studying condominium and HOA governance. The “31 December 2026” reporting deadline that circulates in search results and machine-generated summaries is real text, lifted from real bills — bills that their own sponsors withdrew.

We report this because it is the kind of error that gets repeated, and because a board or owner who believes a state task force is about to report on their sector is waiting for a document that does not exist.

The paper trail

Four filings, none surviving:

• HB 286 (2024), Task Force on Common Ownership Communities. Heard in House Environment and Transportation on 13 February 2024. That hearing is the last recorded action. Died in committee. Its reporting deadline: 31 December 2025.¹
• HB 294 (2025), Delegate Holmes. Withdrawn by the sponsor on 10 February 2025. Reporting deadline in the bill: 31 December 2026.²
• SB 71 (2025), Senator Sydnor, the cross-file. Withdrawn by the sponsor on 27 January 2025. Same 31 December 2026 deadline.³
• 2026: no version was introduced at all.

So the widely quoted deadline comes from a pair of 2025 bills that were pulled within three weeks of each other, before either received a hearing.

The body that did exist, and expired twenty years ago

Maryland has had a Task Force on Common Ownership Communities exactly once. It was created by Chapter 469 of the Acts of 2005, reported to the Governor and the General Assembly in December 2006, and its authorisation expired on 31 December 2006. The Maryland State Archives lists it among defunct commissions.⁴

Its charge included whether Maryland should adopt the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act of 1994. Maryland did not, and still has not.

1. House Bill 286 (2024), Task Force on Common Ownership Communities — heard in House Environment and Transportation 13 February 2024, no further action, died in committee; reporting deadline of 31 December 2025 ↩
2. House Bill 294 (2025), Task Force on Common Ownership Communities — withdrawn by the sponsor 10 February 2025; the source of the 31 December 2026 reporting deadline in circulation ↩
3. Senate Bill 71 (2025) — the cross-file; withdrawn by the sponsor 27 January 2025 ↩
4. Maryland State Archives, Maryland Manual — Task Force on Common Ownership Communities, created by Chapter 469 of the Acts of 2005, reported December 2006, authorisation expired 31 December 2006; listed among defunct commissions, with a charge including whether Maryland should adopt UCIOA (1994) ↩
5. Chapter 779 of the Acts of 2026 (HB 956), enrolled text — the DHCD study of condominium buildings more than 40 years old, its six required findings, the 1 December 2026 report deadline, and the 30 June 2027 abrogation ↩
6. Department of Legislative Services, Summary Reports of Committees to the Legislative Policy Committee — 2025 Interim Report, February 2026: no mention of condominiums, common ownership communities, homeowners associations, reserve studies or an ombudsman ↩
7. Department of Legislative Services, Dates of Interest — 2026 Interim (24 April 2026): no condominium or HOA briefing scheduled; pre-file drafting requests due 20 November 2026, pre-file approval 10 December 2026, 2027 session convening 13 January 2027 ↩
8. Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, Common Ownership Communities — the State's statutory information portal, carrying no reference to the Chapter 779 study as of 12 September 2026 ↩