Maryland HOA Short-Term Rentals

Quick-Reference Table

Last verified: July 17, 2026

Section 1: Overview — Can an HOA restrict short-term rentals in Maryland?

A Maryland condominium or homeowners association can restrict or prohibit short-term rentals, but the authority comes from the recorded declaration rather than from a statute that grants or denies it, with state law supplying the governance and enforcement framework around that authority. Condominiums are governed by the Maryland Condominium Act, Md. Code, Real Property § 11-101 et seq., and planned communities are governed by the Maryland Homeowners Association Act, Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-101 et seq.¹² The recorded declaration is the operative source of any rental restriction; where a declaration bars or limits leasing, the association enforces that covenant, and where it is silent, the association generally cannot manufacture a rental ban by board rule alone.⁹ Maryland does not appear to have a statute that preempts local short-term rental regulation, so that regulation is primarily local, with distinct regimes in Baltimore City, Ocean City, and other markets, and none of those local rules enlarges or shrinks association authority.⁴ Disputes proceed through the Maryland Circuit Courts, with appeals to the Appellate Court of Maryland and then the Supreme Court of Maryland, the two appellate courts renamed by constitutional amendment effective December 14, 2022.¹⁵ The sections below detail the statutory framework, the amendment and grandfathering analysis, the local and tax layers, and the operational mechanics of enforcement.

Section 2: The legal framework for HOA short-term rental restrictions

2A. The two statutes and the lien act

Maryland is a multi-statute jurisdiction and is not a Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA) state, so the governing text depends on the community type. Condominiums are governed by the Maryland Condominium Act at Md. Code, Real Property § 11-101 et seq. (Title 11).¹ Planned communities, meaning lot-based homeowners associations, are governed by the Maryland Homeowners Association Act at Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-101 et seq. (Title 11B), a statute notable for its resale-disclosure architecture, which requires a seller to deliver association information to a buyer and provides a cancellation window if that information is late.² The two titles are not interchangeable, and a provision in one cannot be assumed to exist in the other. Assessment liens for both community types are not created by either title acting alone; they are created and enforced under the Maryland Contract Lien Act, Md. Code, Real Property § 14-201 et seq., which requires a recorded contract or covenant that expressly provides for a lien and prescribes the notice, statement-of-lien, and foreclosure procedure.¹⁴

For both community types, the source of any rental restriction is the recorded declaration. Neither title contains a provision that specifically governs whether an owner may rent a unit or lot on a short-term basis. The Condominium Act addresses use of the common elements and the adoption of rules, but a rule cannot be inconsistent with the declaration or bylaws, and the statute does not itself impose or authorize a freestanding rental ban.⁵ The practical distinction that matters is between authority over long-term leasing (for example, a minimum-lease-term covenant or a cap on the number of leased units) and authority over short-term or transient rentals (the Airbnb and Vrbo pattern of stays measured in nights). Both derive from the same declaration-based authority, but the drafting must be precise: a covenant limiting property to "residential use" does not, standing alone, prohibit renting to a tenant who uses the home as a residence.

2B. Restricting rentals, amendments, and grandfathering

Adding or strengthening a rental restriction is normally accomplished by amending the declaration. The threshold differs by statute and must be verified separately for each. Under the Condominium Act, a declaration may be amended with the written consent of 66 2/3% of the unit owners on the current roster where no units remain developer-owned, and 80% where any units are still owned by the developer, a reduction from the former uniform 80% figure that took effect October 1, 2024.⁷ Under the Homeowners Association Act, a homeowners association may amend a governing document by the affirmative vote of lot owners in good standing holding at least 60% of the votes in the development, or a lower percentage if the governing document allows.⁸

Neither the Condominium Act nor the Homeowners Association Act contains the 2008-UCIOA rental-restriction owner-protection provision that some states use to grandfather owners who bought before a rental amendment. Because Maryland has no such statutory shield, grandfathering turns on the declaration itself and on Maryland case law governing covenant enforcement. The leading rental decision is Lowden v. Bosley, in which the Supreme Court of Maryland (then the Court of Appeals of Maryland) held that a covenant limiting lots to single-family residential use did not bar an owner from renting the home, because the tenants' residential use did not become a commercial use merely because the owner collected rent.⁹ The intermediate court applied that reasoning in South Kaywood Community Ass'n v. Long.¹⁶ The upshot for boards is that a rental restriction must be expressly and clearly drafted, and an amendment that strips away a vested property interest can face a higher consent requirement, as the Supreme Court of Maryland held in Ridgely Condominium Ass'n v. Smyrnioudis when it invalidated a bylaw amendment affecting a common-element interest.¹⁷ Maryland does not limit an association's authority to restrict rentals by statute, unlike California (Civil Code § 4741) or Arizona (A.R.S. § 33-1806.01), and it does not provide a Florida-style statutory grandfathering shield.

2C. State law, local regulation, the CCOC, and tax

Maryland does not appear to preempt local short-term rental regulation, and STR rules are set primarily at the county and municipal level. Baltimore City licenses short-term rentals under Ordinance 19-217 (Council Bill 18-0189), codified at Baltimore City Code Article 15, Subtitle 48, defining an STR as a rental of all or part of a home for periods of less than 90 nights and generally requiring the unit to be the host's principal residence, deeded to a natural person, and free of code violations.⁴ Ocean City, in Worcester County, defines an STR as occupancy of 30 consecutive days or fewer and requires an annual rental license, a noise permit, and a supplemental STR license, and it has been the site of an active moratorium fight in its R-1 and MH districts, having imposed an 11-month moratorium on new STR licenses in those districts in early 2025.⁶ These regimes govern the owner-to-government relationship. They neither grant nor remove association authority, which remains a matter of the declaration.

Montgomery County, the most populous county, operates a Commission on Common Ownership Communities (CCOC) under Chapter 10B of the Montgomery County Code, a county body that registers common ownership communities and hears and resolves certain disputes between owners and their associations, with decisions that are binding on the parties.¹⁸ The CCOC is a county-level dispute-resolution body, not a statewide regulator, and most Maryland counties have no equivalent forum.

On tax, Maryland imposes its 6% state sales and use tax on the sale of accommodations to a transient guest, and counties impose a separate hotel rental tax that varies by jurisdiction.¹⁰ A "transient" is generally a guest who stays four consecutive months or less, and in resort areas all rentals of four months or less are taxable; several counties use shorter cutoffs, including Frederick County, which uses a 90-day cutoff.¹⁹ County hotel rental tax rates are capped by statute in a range from 3% to 8% (for example, 8% in Garrett County), with Montgomery County at 7% and Baltimore City at 9.5%.²⁰ As with licensing, tax obligations bind the owner and the government and do not alter what the association may restrict.

Section 3: Operational mechanics and enforcement

A. Adopting a valid restriction (the tools)

The most common and durable mechanism is a minimum-lease-term covenant in the declaration, which indirectly bars transient stays by requiring, for example, leases of a stated minimum length. Rental caps, meaning a limit on the percentage or number of units that may be leased at one time, are also permitted, but neither the Condominium Act nor the Homeowners Association Act supplies or limits a cap; the authority and the numeric threshold must live in the declaration.¹² Because a board rule cannot contradict the declaration under the Condominium Act, a board that wants a rental cap or a short-term ban that is not already in the declaration should amend the declaration rather than rely on rulemaking.⁵ Associations may also impose internal administrative requirements that do not themselves restrict the right to rent, such as registering tenants, collecting owner and occupant contact information, and requiring copies of leases, provided the governing documents support them.

B. Enforcement

Before imposing a fine or other sanction for a rules violation, a condominium board must follow the dispute-settlement procedure in RP § 11-113: a written cease-and-desist demand identifying the violation and allowing a cure period (not less than 15 days for a continuing violation), followed, if the violation continues, by written notice of the right to request a hearing (not less than 10 days), and a hearing at which the owner may present and cross-examine evidence.¹¹ The Homeowners Association Act sets a parallel process in RP § 11B-111.10.¹² Available remedies include fines, a suit for damages, and injunctive relief, with the prevailing party entitled to counsel fees.¹¹ Unpaid assessments can become a lien, but only through the Maryland Contract Lien Act, which sets the notice and statement-of-lien procedure; for condominiums, up to four months of unpaid regular assessments hold priority over a first mortgage recorded on or after October 1, 2011, and a lien foreclosure is limited to assessments and related costs and may not be based on fines.¹³²¹

The dispute path depends on location. For communities within Montgomery County, an owner or association may bring certain disputes to the CCOC, whose decisions are binding and subject to judicial review.¹⁸ Elsewhere, the forum is the courts: a Circuit Court action, with appeal to the Appellate Court of Maryland and then, by certiorari, to the Supreme Court of Maryland.¹⁵ Association enforcement runs on a separate track from local-government enforcement; a city or county can cite an owner for operating without a license while the association separately enforces (or declines to enforce) its covenants, and neither action controls the other.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published opinion of the Appellate Court of Maryland or the Supreme Court of Maryland issued in the past 36 months squarely addresses the enforceability of a condominium or homeowners association rental restriction, a declaration amendment restricting leasing or short-term rentals, or association authority to restrict rentals. The controlling Maryland authority on rental covenants remains the 2006 Supreme Court of Maryland decision in Lowden v. Bosley, discussed in Section 2B, which predates the 36-month window and the 2022 court renaming.⁹

C. Active legislative or local debates

Ocean City has been the most active local flashpoint: voters rejected Ordinance 2025-04, which would have required a five-night minimum stay in R-1 and MH districts (rising to a 31-night minimum in 2027), at a special election on July 22, 2025 by a 34-vote margin (834 against to 800 for), and the Town Council has continued to weigh a moratorium and possible license caps for those districts.⁶ A 2025 General Assembly bill (HB 87) proposed statewide health, safety, and taxation rules for short-term rentals and home amenity rentals, reflecting continued legislative attention to the sector.³

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Maryland sits in the middle of the national spectrum as a multi-statute, non-UCIOA state that leaves association rental authority to the recorded declaration. It does not appear to preempt local short-term rental bans, in contrast to states that have limited local authority, and it does not cap or limit an association's rental authority by statute, unlike California (Civil Code § 4741) or Arizona (A.R.S. § 33-1806.01). Its most distinctive feature is institutional rather than substantive: Montgomery County's Commission on Common Ownership Communities gives owners and associations in that one county a binding dispute-resolution forum that has no statewide analog. The local licensing regimes and the lodging tax restrain local governments and owners, not associations, and should never be read as a grant or limit on covenant authority. For a multi-state operator entering Maryland, the practical takeaways are three: apply Title 11 to condominiums and Title 11B to HOAs without cross-application, route every assessment lien through the Maryland Contract Lien Act, and check whether a community sits within Montgomery County and therefore within the CCOC's reach.

HOA Weekly's Maryland Short-Term Rentals coverage updates quarterly as the General Assembly, the Appellate Court of Maryland and the Supreme Court of Maryland, and local governments 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 OTARD rule, also apply to Maryland associations regardless of the state framework.

Footnotes

1. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-101 et seq. (Maryland Condominium Act) ↩
2. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-101 et seq. (Maryland Homeowners Association Act) ↩
3. Md. Code, Real Property § 14-201 et seq. (Maryland Contract Lien Act) ↩
4. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-103(c) (declaration amendment thresholds) ↩
5. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-116(c) (amendment of governing document) ↩
6. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-113 (condominium dispute settlement mechanism) ↩
7. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111.10 (HOA dispute settlement) ↩
8. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-110(f) (assessment lien priority) ↩
9. Md. Code, Real Property § 14-204 (enforcement and foreclosure of lien) ↩
10. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-111 (rules and regulations); § 11-108 (use of common elements) ↩
11. Comptroller of Maryland, Sales and Use Tax on Accommodations (6% state rate) ↩
12. COMAR 03.06.01.23 (Room Rentals; transient and resort-area treatment); Frederick County 90-day cutoff per Md. Dept. of Legislative Services, HB 323 Fiscal Note (2014) ↩
13. Maryland Department of Legislative Services, SB 979 Fiscal Note (county hotel rental tax rates, 3% to 9.5%); Montgomery County Room Rental-Transient Tax at 7% ↩
14. Baltimore City DHCD, Short-Term Rentals (Ordinance 19-217; Baltimore City Code Art. 15, Subtitle 48; less than 90 nights) ↩
15. Town of Ocean City, Division of Rental Housing (STR definition of 30 consecutive days or fewer and licensing) ↩
16. Montgomery County Commission on Common Ownership Communities (Chapter 10B, Montgomery County Code) ↩
17. Maryland Judiciary, appellate court renaming effective December 14, 2022 ↩
18. Maryland General Assembly, SB 665 (2024, Chapter 343), effective October 1, 2024 ↩
19. Maryland General Assembly, SB 979 (2025) short-term rental and hotel rental tax collection ↩
20. Maryland General Assembly, HB 87 (2025) Short-Term Rentals and Home Amenity Rentals ↩
21. Lowden v. Bosley, 395 Md. 58, 909 A.2d 261 (2006) (Supreme Court of Maryland, then Court of Appeals) ↩
22. South Kaywood Community Ass'n v. Long, 208 Md. App. 597 (2012) (Appellate Court of Maryland, then Court of Special Appeals) ↩
23. Ridgely Condominium Ass'n v. Smyrnioudis, 343 Md. 357 (1996) (Supreme Court of Maryland, then Court of Appeals) ↩