2026-09-12 · Maryland · Legislation · Did not pass

What happened. Maryland's reserve-funding mandate took effect on 1 October 2025, and the 2026 session produced four separate attempts to soften it. Every one failed. Two were withdrawn by their own sponsors before their hearings happened; two never received a committee vote.¹

For a Maryland board budgeting for the coming fiscal year, the practical statement is short: the funding requirement is exactly as it was written, and no relief is pending.

The four bills

1. The 80 percent opt-out and the small-HOA exemption. HB 1201 (Delegate Wivell and two others) would have exempted a residential condominium from reserve studies entirely where owners holding at least 80 percent of the votes chose instead to fund common-element repairs by special assessment. It also carried three HOA carve-outs: associations of 50 or fewer homes; associations of single-family homes on lots that cannot be subdivided; and associations with no declaration duty to maintain common elements other than common private roads. Heard 13 March 2026, no report.²

2. The hardship budget. HB 1269 (Delegate Bhandari) and SB 615 (Senator West) would have let a specified portion of the members declare that the community faced a financial hardship, extendable. Both hearings were cancelled; the Senate sponsor withdrew on 2 March 2026 and the House sponsor on 3 March. No fiscal note was ever published for either.³

3. Emergency use of reserves. HB 1615 (Delegate Bhandari and two others) and SB 576 (Senator Jennings) would have allowed reserve funds to be spent on a purpose outside the funding plan in an emergency, on a two-thirds vote of members in good standing, preserving the existing duty to repay within five years. The House version was never even referred out of Rules. The Senate version died in Judicial Proceedings after an 18 February hearing.⁴

4. A grant fund for owners who cannot pay. HB 453 (Delegates Rosenberg, Ruff and Stinnett) would have created an Insufficient Condominium Reserve Account Grant Fund making grants to low-income unit owners to cover the assessment increases their association needs to meet the mandate, prioritising certain older adults. Hearing cancelled 4 February; withdrawn by the sponsor 17 February 2026.⁵

1. CAI Advocacy, 2026 Maryland End of Legislative Session Report — outcomes for the 2026 reserve bills, and the multi-session refiling record ↩
2. House Bill 1201 (2026), Condominiums and Homeowners Associations – Reserve Studies – Exemptions — the 80 percent special-assessment opt-out and the 50-or-fewer-homes HOA carve-out; heard 13 March 2026, no report ↩
3. House Bill 1269 (2026), Common Ownership Communities – Reserve Accounts and Reserve Studies – Alterations — hearing cancelled, withdrawn by sponsor 3 March 2026 (cross-file SB 615 withdrawn 2 March) ↩
4. Senate Bill 576 (2026), Cooperative Housing Corporations and Condominiums – Emergency Use of Reserve Funds — two-thirds vote, five-year repayment preserved; died in Senate Judicial Proceedings (cross-file HB 1615 never referred out of House Rules) ↩
5. House Bill 453 (2026), Real Property – Insufficient Condominium Reserve Account Grant Fund – Establishment — grants to low-income unit owners prioritising older adults; withdrawn by sponsor 17 February 2026 ↩
6. Maryland Code, Real Property § 11-109.2 — the codified reserve-funding requirement, the five-fiscal-year attainment window, and the non-residential exclusion ↩
7. Chapter 518 of the Acts of 2025 (SB 63), enrolled text — the three-to-five-year change, the two-thirds financial-hardship determination renewable one fiscal year at a time, the good-faith documentation open to owner examination, and authority to raise assessments notwithstanding any cap ↩