Maryland: Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements
The short answer
Maryland does not impose a hard $25 application-fee cap. For covered landlords, a lease application must explain the applicant's liabilities and the fee-refund rule; if non-security-deposit fees exceed $25, the landlord may retain only amounts actually spent for a credit check or other application expenses and must return the rest within 15 days after occupancy or written notice that no tenancy will occur. Landlords must also disclose whether they accept qualifying 30-day reusable screening reports; acceptance is optional, but an accepting landlord may charge neither an access fee nor an application fee when the applicant supplies one.
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This is the general rule in Maryland. Ezel applies current Maryland law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | Md. Code, Real Prop. §§ 8-213 and 8-218; § 8-213 excludes landlords offering 4 or fewer units on one parcel/location and seasonal or condominium rentals; § 8-218 states no parallel exemption |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Covered landlord may require non-security-deposit application/credit-check fees, subject to § 8-213 refund rules; accepting landlord may not charge report-access or application fee when applicant supplies a qualifying reusable report (§ 8-218(d)) |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | No hard $25 cap: fees over $25 trigger actual-expenditure accounting/refund; landlord may retain amounts actually spent for credit check or other application expenses (§ 8-213(b)) |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | For fees over $25, retain only actual credit-check and other application expenses; no statewide vacancy, charge-when-considered, or multiple-application restriction in §§ 8-213 or 8-218 |
| Before-screening disclosures | Lease application must explain signing liabilities and § 8-213(b)-(c); landlord must notify whether reusable reports are accepted, in writing or conspicuously via listing, homepage, online application, or other reasonable method (§§ 8-213(a), 8-218(c)) |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No application-fee receipt or landlord-obtained-report-copy duty; when covered fees exceed $25, return unspent part within 15 days after occupancy or written notice that no tenancy will occur (§ 8-213(b)) |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | Acceptance optional; qualifying report is ≤30 days old, applicant-requested/paid, sent directly by CRA at no landlord cost, and contains specified credit, 7-year criminal/eviction, employment/income, address, and rental-history data (§ 8-218(a)-(b)) |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order or general Maryland denial-notice procedure; accepting landlord may require no-material-change certification and may reject before lease execution if the applicant made a material report change (§ 8-218(e)-(f)) |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | Failure to return fees as § 8-213 requires creates liability for twice the fees; §§ 8-213 and 8-218 contain no application-fee local-preemption clause |
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The $25 figure is a refund threshold, not a hard cap
Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-213 does not simply say that a landlord may charge no
more than $25. For a covered landlord, if fees other than a security deposit
exceed $25, the landlord may retain only the amount actually spent for a credit
check or other expenses arising from the application. The landlord must return
the unspent portion within the statutory 15-day period.
That means actual application expenses can support retention of more than $25.
Conversely, § 8-213 does not impose its accounting-and-refund process on a fee
of $25 or less. Calling $25 a universal maximum loses both parts of the rule.
Application disclosure and refund timing
Under Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-213(a), the lease application must explain the
liabilities the applicant incurs by signing and must explain subsections (b) and
(c), including the fee-refund rule and the coverage exclusions.
When the covered non-security-deposit fees exceed $25, the landlord must return
the unspent portion no later than 15 days after either:
- the applicant occupies the dwelling; or
- either party gives the other written communication that no tenancy will
occur.
Failure to make the required return creates liability for twice the amount of
the fees. Section 8-213 does not apply to a landlord offering four or fewer
dwelling units on one parcel or at one location, or to seasonal or condominium
rentals.
Reusable tenant screening reports
Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-218 requires every landlord to notify prospective
tenants whether the landlord accepts reusable tenant screening reports. The
statute permits written notice or conspicuous posting in a rental listing, on a
website homepage, on the online application page, or by another method
reasonably calculated to give notice.
Acceptance is optional. If the landlord accepts reusable reports and the
applicant supplies a qualifying one, however, the landlord may charge neither
a fee to access the report nor an application fee.
Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-218(a)-(b) provides that a qualifying report must:
- have been prepared within the previous 30 days;
- have been requested and paid for by the prospective tenant;
- be made directly available by a consumer reporting agency to the prospective
landlord at no charge; - include a credit report;
- include seven years of federal, state, and local criminal charges and
convictions for each indicated prior-residence jurisdiction; - include seven years of state and local eviction history;
- verify employment and income; and
- include current address and rental history.
Under Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-218(c)-(f), an accepting landlord may require the applicant to certify that there has been
no material change in name, address, bankruptcy status, criminal history, or
eviction history since generation. Before a lease is signed, the landlord may
reject the application if the applicant made a material change to the report.
What the current statutes do not require
Sections 8-213 and 8-218 do not require a special application-fee receipt or a
copy of a screening report the landlord independently obtains. They also do not
create first-in-order or first-qualified processing, a vacancy condition, or a
general Maryland denial-notice procedure. Separate federal consumer-reporting
law may require adverse-action disclosures.
The 2026 General Assembly considered HB 313, which would have added many of
those procedures, but the bill passed only the House and died in the Senate
after a committee hearing.
Common questions
Can a covered landlord charge $50? Potentially, but the landlord may retain
only actual credit-check and other application expenses and must return the
unspent portion on time.
Is a reusable screening report mandatory for the landlord to accept? No.
The landlord must disclose whether it accepts one. The no-fee rule applies only
when an accepting landlord receives a qualifying report.
Must the landlord give an application-fee receipt? Sections 8-213 and 8-218
state no special receipt duty for that fee.
Does the § 8-213 exemption also appear in § 8-218? No. Section 8-218 states
no parallel small-landlord, seasonal-rental, or condominium-rental exemption.
Statutes and sources
- Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-213(a) — lease-application statement.
An application for a lease shall contain a statement which explains ...
[t]he liabilities which the tenant incurs upon signing the application ...
Official source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=grp§ion=8-213 (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-213(b)-(c) — over-$25 accounting, 15-day refund,
double-fee damages, and exclusions.
The landlord may retain only that portion of the fees actually expended for
a credit check or other expenses arising out of the application ...
Official source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=grp§ion=8-213 (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-218 — reusable-report definition, notice, no-fee
consequence, certification, and material-change rejection.
If a prospective tenant provides a reusable tenant screening report to a
landlord that accepts reusable tenant screening reports, the landlord may
not charge ... an application fee.
Official source: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=grp§ion=8-218 (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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