Maryland HOA Reserve Studies

Section 1: Overview — Reserve study requirements in Maryland

Maryland now requires a statewide reserve study from residential condominiums and homeowners associations. The state calls for periodic studies, regular updates, and — as of October 1, 2025 — reserve funding that matches each study. These rules build on requirements that two counties adopted first.^1,4 The 2022 legislature created the statewide requirement in House Bill 107 (Chapter 664), titled "Cooperative Housing Corporations, Condominiums, and Homeowners Associations - Reserve Studies - Statewide." It took effect October 1, 2022, and it repealed the provisions that had limited mandatory reserve studies to Montgomery and Prince George's Counties.^3,15 The requirement lives inside Maryland's two principal community-association statutes — the Maryland Condominium Act (Real Property § 11-101 et seq.) and the Maryland Homeowners Association Act (Real Property § 11B-101 et seq.) — with parallel provisions for cooperatives in the Corporations and Associations Article.^1,2 Before the statewide law, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties already required reserve studies, and the 2022 statute extended their models to the rest of the state.² With these measures, Maryland joins the small group of states that require both reserve studies and reserve funding rather than disclosure alone — a group that includes Florida and Hawaii.⁴ The sections that follow lay out the covered communities, the deadlines, the funding standard, the codification, the county history, the compliance duties, and the recent legislative activity.

Section 2: The reserve framework under Maryland law

2A. The statewide reserve-study mandate

The mandate reaches every residential condominium and most homeowners associations in the state. For condominiums, Real Property § 11-109.4 covers any residential condominium, with no size or dollar threshold.¹ For homeowners associations, Real Property § 11B-112.3 applies when the association's declaration makes it responsible for maintaining and repairing common areas and the total repair or replacement cost for the identified components reaches at least $10,000; the law carves out an HOA that issues bonds to meet capital expenditures.² A parallel provision in the Corporations and Associations Article covers cooperative housing corporations.⁵ Commercial condominiums fall outside the requirement.¹

The initial-study deadlines turn on when and where a community was established. For communities outside Montgomery and Prince George's Counties that formed before October 1, 2022 and had not obtained a reserve study on or after October 1, 2018, the study had to be done on or before October 1, 2023.¹ A new condominium must complete an independent study at least 30 days before the transition meeting where control passes to owners; a new homeowners association must complete the study between 90 and 30 days before the first owners' meeting that § 11B-106.1(a) requires.^1,2 After the initial study, the governing body must obtain an updated reserve study within five years, and at least every five years after that.^1,2

On funding, Maryland moved from a budget-and-disclose posture to a funding mandate. As enacted in 2022, the law told boards to review the study and budget for reserves. The 2025 legislation — House Bill 292 and Senate Bill 63, Chapter 519, effective October 1, 2025 — now requires the annual budget to include the funding amount the most recent reserve study recommends, requires the association to deposit the reserves into the reserve account by the last day of each fiscal year, and requires the board to adopt a funding plan it develops in consultation with the study preparer.^4,6,16 For an initial study, the association must attain the recommended annual funding level within five fiscal years, up from three.⁶ A qualified preparer is required: the person must have prepared at least 30 reserve studies in the prior three years, or participated in 30 while employed by a reserve-study firm, or hold a Maryland architect or professional engineer license, or hold the Reserve Specialist or Professional Reserve Analyst designation.^1,2 The only meaningful size or value carve-out is the HOA's $10,000 threshold; condominiums get no comparable exemption.^1,2

2B. The Condominium Act, the Homeowners Association Act, and resale disclosure

The reserve provisions sit inside the two principal Acts, not in a separate statute. Within the Maryland Condominium Act, the reserve-study definition and the study-and-update requirements sit at Real Property § 11-109.4, the annual-budget and reserve-funding provisions at § 11-109.2, and the board's authority to assess for reserves at § 11-110.^1,6,10 Within the Maryland Homeowners Association Act, the reserve-study requirements sit at § 11B-112.3, the budget and funding provisions at § 11B-112.2, and the assessment authority at § 11B-117.^2,7,11 Cooperatives sit at Corporations and Associations § 5-6B-26.1.⁵ House Bill 107 in 2022 and House Bill 292 in 2025 amended these specific sections rather than creating a freestanding reserve title.^3,4

Reserve information also flows into the resale-disclosure package under each Act, though through different mechanisms. Under the Condominium Act, § 11-135 requires the council of unit owners to furnish a resale certificate that includes the current operating budget, the current reserve study report or a summary of it, and a statement of the status and amount of any reserve or replacement fund — or a statement that there is none.⁸ The council must provide the certificate within 20 days of a written request, the seller must deliver the package at least 15 days before closing, and the buyer holds a cancellation right.⁸ Under the Homeowners Association Act, § 11B-106 requires the seller to disclose association fees, assessments, delinquencies, and governing documents to the buyer, and § 11B-106.1 ties reserves directly to developer transition: the replacement reserves delivered at turnover must equal at least the reserve funding amount the reserve study recommends as of the meeting date.^9,14 The HOA Act does not use the term "resale certificate," but it produces a comparable disclosure package.⁹

2C. County-level history, the declaration, and the fiduciary backstop

Maryland's reserve regime started at the county level. Prince George's County required reserve studies for communities established on or after October 1, 2020, and Montgomery County for those established on or after October 1, 2021 — before House Bill 107 extended the requirement statewide for communities established on or after October 1, 2022.² Montgomery County also runs the Commission on Common Ownership Communities, created under Chapter 10B of the County Code, which educates boards and owners, advises county government, and resolves certain disputes between communities and their governing bodies through binding decisions.¹³ The Commission is a county-level dispute-and-education body, not a statewide regulator, and it does not administer the statewide reserve-study mandate.¹³ After House Bill 107, the county and statewide requirements work together, and the staggered establishment dates explain why Montgomery and Prince George's communities reached compliance earlier than the rest of the state.²

The statutory reserve requirement now works as a floor above the recorded declaration and the board's judgment. Where governing documents cap assessments, the statute lets the board raise assessments to fund required reserves despite those caps.^10,11 The practical effect: reserve studies and reserve funding are statutory obligations. The declaration and the board's business judgment operate within the statutory minimum rather than displacing it, and boards that ignore the study or underfund reserves expose themselves to fiduciary-duty claims.^6,7

Section 3: Compliance obligations

A. Study and inspection obligations

Obtain an initial reserve study, then update it at least every five years. This applies to both condominiums (§ 11-109.4) and homeowners associations (§ 11B-112.3), and to cooperatives (§ 5-6B-26.1); for HOAs it applies only where the association maintains common areas with at least $10,000 in total repair or replacement costs.^1,2,5 The statute does not set a separate on-site inspection interval apart from the five-year study-and-update cycle.¹

Meet the timing rules that fit your community type. A new condominium owes the study at least 30 days before the transition meeting, and a new homeowners association owes it between 90 and 30 days before the first owners' meeting under § 11B-106.1(a); existing communities outside the two early counties faced an October 1, 2023 catch-up deadline.^1,2

B. Funding obligations

Budget and fund reserves at the level the study recommends. This applies to both condominiums (§ 11-109.2) and homeowners associations (§ 11B-112.2): as of October 1, 2025, the annual budget must include the funding amount the most recent reserve study recommends, with funds deposited into the reserve account by the last day of each fiscal year under an adopted funding plan.^6,7

Attain the initial funding level on schedule, and respect the threshold. For an initial study, the association must reach the recommended annual funding level within five fiscal years; the HOA's $10,000 threshold is the only size-based exemption, and condominiums have none.^2,6

C. Disclosure obligations

Disclose the study to members every year. This applies to both condominiums (§ 11-109.4(e)) and homeowners associations (§ 11B-112.3(e)): the association must make the study available for owners to inspect and copy, the board must review it while preparing the budget, and the association must summarize it with the proposed annual budget.^1,2

Disclose reserves to buyers at resale. For condominiums, § 11-135 requires the resale certificate to include the current reserve study report or summary and the status and amount of any reserve fund; for homeowners associations, § 11B-106 requires disclosure of fees, assessments, and financial information, and § 11B-106.1 requires turnover reserves equal to the study's recommended amount.^8,9,14

D. Account and governance obligations

Protect reserve funds, and document any borrowing. This applies to both condominiums and homeowners associations: reserves used for other purposes must be repaid within five years (§ 11-109.4(f), § 11B-112.3(f)), and boards may raise assessments to fund reserves despite governing-document caps (§ 11-110 for condominiums, § 11B-117 for HOAs).^1,2,10,11

Use the hardship mechanism only on the statutory terms. For both condominiums (§ 11-109.2) and homeowners associations (§ 11B-112.2), a deviation from the funding requirement needs a two-thirds vote, lasts one fiscal year, renews once by another two-thirds vote, and requires documented good-faith efforts to resume funding.^6,7

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Maryland's 2025 session produced the funding mandate that now anchors the state's reserve regime. Two cross-filed bills carried it.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published appellate opinion from the Supreme Court of Maryland (formerly the Court of Appeals) or the Appellate Court of Maryland (formerly the Court of Special Appeals) decided in the past 36 months squarely addresses reserves, reserve funding, reserve studies, reserve disclosure, or board fiduciary duty in the reserve context.¹⁷ The leading reserve-adjacent authority is older. In MRA Property Management, Inc. v. Armstrong, 426 Md. 83 (2012), Maryland's highest court (then the Court of Appeals) held that the Maryland Consumer Protection Act reaches condominium resale certificates under § 11-135 — so a council of unit owners and its manager can face liability for misleading reserve and budget disclosures.¹² Because the mandatory-funding regime took effect only on October 1, 2025, no appellate decision applying it would be expected this soon.

C. Active legislative debates

The 2025 session also saw an unsuccessful effort to license community association managers — House Bill 303, which died in committee — and stakeholders keep debating the pace of the reserve-funding ramp and the limited hardship relief for smaller and senior communities.¹⁸ No further reserve-funding amendment had been enacted as of the latest verification date.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Maryland now sits among the hard-mandate states that require reserve studies and, increasingly, reserve funding. It joins California, which mandates a reserve study at least every three years under Civil Code § 5550; Florida, which requires Structural Integrity Reserve Studies under Senate Bill 4-D; and Hawaii, which ties required reserve funding to the budget.^19,20 California requires the study and an adopted funding plan but sets no statutory funding percentage, while Florida and Hawaii — like Maryland — tie funding to the study itself.¹⁹ That places Maryland a step beyond disclosure-oriented states such as Colorado, which centers on a reserve policy and disclosure, and well beyond no-mandate states such as Indiana and Georgia, where reserve practice answers to the governing documents. Maryland's move from disclosure to a statewide reserve-study-and-funding mandate, built on the Montgomery and Prince George's County precedents, follows the national trend that came after the June 24, 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida.³ For a multi-state operator, a Maryland portfolio now demands the same funding discipline that Florida and Hawaii already require, with funding-plan adoption and year-end reserve deposits as recurring compliance checkpoints.

HOA Weekly's Maryland Reserve Studies coverage updates quarterly as the General Assembly and the Maryland appellate courts act. Federal frameworks — including the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the FCC's OTARD rule — also apply to Maryland associations regardless of the state framework.

1. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109.4 (Reserve Study of Condominium Common Elements), Maryland General Assembly ↩
2. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-112.3 (Reserve Study of Homeowners Association Common Areas), Maryland General Assembly ↩
3. House Bill 107, Chapter 664 (2022), Cooperative Housing Corporations, Condominiums, and Homeowners Associations - Reserve Studies - Statewide, Maryland General Assembly ↩
4. House Bill 292, Chapter 519 (2025), Funding of Reserve Accounts and Preparation of Funding Plans, Maryland General Assembly ↩
5. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 5-6B-26.1 (Cooperative housing corporation reserve studies and funding), Maryland General Assembly ↩
6. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109.2 (Annual Proposed Budget; condominium reserve funding), Maryland General Assembly ↩
7. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-112.2 (Annual Budget; homeowners association reserve funding), Maryland General Assembly ↩
8. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-135 (Resale of unit; condominium resale certificate), Maryland General Assembly ↩
9. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-106 (Resale of lot; homeowners association disclosures), Maryland General Assembly ↩
10. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-110 (Common Expenses and Profits; Assessments; reserve assessment authority), Maryland General Assembly ↩
11. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-117 (Homeowners association assessment authority), Maryland General Assembly ↩
12. MRA Property Management, Inc. v. Armstrong, No. 93, Sept. Term 2007, 426 Md. 83 (2012), Maryland Judiciary ↩
13. Commission on Common Ownership Communities (Chapter 10B, County Code), Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs ↩
14. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-106.1 (Meeting to elect governing body; transition replacement reserves), Maryland General Assembly ↩
15. House Bill 107 (2022), legislation details and effective date October 1, 2022, Maryland General Assembly ↩
16. Senate Bill 63 (2025), Third Reader text, Funding of Reserve Accounts and Preparation of Funding Plans, Maryland General Assembly ↩
17. Maryland Appellate Court Opinions (Supreme Court of Maryland and Appellate Court of Maryland), Maryland Judiciary ↩
18. House Bill 303 (2025), Real Property - Regulation of Common Ownership Community Managers, Maryland General Assembly ↩
19. California Civil Code § 5550 (Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, reserve study requirement) ↩
20. Florida Senate Bill 4-D (2022), Structural Integrity Reserve Study and funding requirements, Reserve Advisors ↩