Maryland: Residential Lease Execution Formalities

Requirements one by one

Writing threshold

Maryland Code, Real Property § 5-101 gives every parol land lease only the
force of an estate at will unless it is written and signed by the party
creating the interest or an agent with written authority. A separate
residential rule in § 8-208(a) bars a landlord who offers five or more dwelling
units in Maryland from renting any unit without a written lease.

For an agreement not performable within one year after making, Courts and
Judicial Proceedings § 5-901 adds an action bar unless the agreement or a
memorandum is written and signed by the party to be charged or an authorized
person.

Required signatures and authority

Real Property § 5-101 calls for the signature of the party creating the
leasehold—ordinarily the landlord—or an agent lawfully authorized in writing.
For a claim on an agreement not performable within one year, Cts. & Jud. Proc.
§ 5-901 instead focuses on the signature of the party against whom the action
is brought.

If a memorandum substitutes for recording the complete longer lease, Real
Property § 3-101(e) requires execution by every person who is a party to the
lease.

Witness, acknowledgment, and notary

Maryland expressly removes acknowledgment from lease sufficiency. Real
Property § 4-101(a)(2) says a lease is sufficient even though it is not
acknowledged when it otherwise names the parties, identifies the property with
reasonable certainty, states the interest or estate, and is executed. The same
section says the absence of a seal or attestation does not affect deed validity.

Electronic execution

Maryland's electronic-transactions law applies to ordinary lease formation,
but Commercial Law § 21-104 requires each party's agreement. In a standard-form
contract, the electronic-transaction provision must be conspicuous and
separately consented to; consent cannot be inferred merely from an electronic
account payment.

Commercial Law § 21-106 lets an electronic record and signature satisfy writing
and signature requirements. Commercial Law § 21-107 requires delivered information to
be printable or storable and makes a blocked record unenforceable against the
recipient. Commercial Law § 21-110 recognizes electronic acknowledgment where relevant.
Commercial Law § 21-102 excludes laws governing default, acceleration, repossession,
foreclosure, eviction, or cure notices under a primary-residence rental
agreement, so electronic execution does not erase those separate notice rules.

Required copy or written statement

The surveyed provisions state no general duty to give the tenant a fully
executed lease copy. Real Property § 8-208(b) instead gives a prospective
applicant a pre-signing right: on written request, a landlord using a written
lease must provide a proposed form complete in every material detail except the
listed deal-specific blanks, without requiring execution or a prior deposit.

Real Property § 8-210(a) separately requires the landlord to put the landlord's
or authorized service recipient's name, address, and telephone number in the
written lease or on a conspicuous sign at the property. If neither is done, the
statute supplies alternate destinations that make the tenant's notice or
service proper.

Renewal, modification, assignment, and surrender

Under Real Property § 8-208(e), an automatic-renewal period longer than one
month must be distinctly set apart and provide a space for the tenant's written
acknowledgment. Without the tenant's initials, signature, or witnessed mark,
the landlord cannot enforce that renewal provision.

Real Property § 5-103 separately requires a signed writing for an assignment,
grant, or surrender of a leasehold interest, unless it occurs by act and
operation of law. An agent taking that action needs written authority.

Recording and third-party effect

Real Property § 3-101 draws the full-recording line at an estate above seven
years. A lease with an initial term of seven years or less remains exempt when
each renewal is also seven years or less and a party or assign can effect or
prevent the renewal. Other instruments affecting property may be recorded and
give constructive notice under § 3-102.

Instead of the complete longer lease, § 3-101(e) permits a memorandum executed
by every lease party. It must state the lessor and lessee, lease addresses,
execution date, property description, term dates, and the maximum renewal or
extension period and exercise date; an unknown date may use its computation
formula.

An executed but unrecorded lease above seven years remains fully effective
between the original parties and personal representatives, against their
creditors, and for listed claimants with actual notice or reasonable notice
from occupancy. Real Property § 3-203 supplies Maryland's separate race-notice rule for
a later good-faith purchaser who lacks constructive notice and records first.

Effect of noncompliance

An oral lease has only at-will effect under § 5-101. If a landlord offering
five or more dwelling units violates § 8-208(a), the tenancy is presumed to run
one year from first occupancy, but the tenant may end it earlier with one
month's written notice. A covered unsigned one-year-performance agreement faces
§ 5-901's action bar.

An automatic-renewal clause missing the tenant's separate acknowledgment is
unenforceable by the landlord. A longer unrecorded lease receives only the
protected effect listed in § 3-101(d), rather than the full recorded effect.

What trips people up

Maryland has three different time lines. Oral status turns on § 5-101, the
action bar turns on performance within one year, and recording turns on an
estate above seven years.

Seven-year renewals can remain outside mandatory recording. An initial term
and each renewal can each be seven years or less when a party or assign controls
whether the renewal occurs, even if the potential total occupancy is longer.

Automatic renewal needs its own tenant acknowledgment. Putting the clause
inside a generally signed lease is not enough when the renewal period exceeds
one month; § 8-208(e) calls for initials, a signature, or a witnessed mark on
the set-apart provision.

Common questions

Can a small Maryland landlord use an oral lease? A landlord below the
five-unit threshold is outside § 8-208(a)'s special written-lease mandate, but
§ 5-101 still gives an oral land lease only at-will effect.

Does a Maryland lease need notarization to be recorded? Section 4-101
expressly says a lease can be sufficient without acknowledgment. The longer
lease still must be executed and recorded under § 3-101, but Maryland does not
turn acknowledgment into a lease-validity requirement.

May a landlord record a short lease? Yes. Section 3-102 allows other
instruments affecting property to be recorded and gives constructive notice
from recording, even though § 3-101 does not require recording for the exempt
short-term structure.

Statutes and sources

• Md. Code, Real Prop. §§ 5-101 and 5-103; Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-901 —
  oral at-will effect, signatures and written agent authority, assignment or
  surrender form, and the one-year-performance action bar. RP §
  5-101,
  RP §
  5-103,
  and CJP §
  5-901
  (accessed 2026-07-29).
• Md. Code, Real Prop. §§ 8-208 and 8-210 — five-unit written-lease
  mandate, proposed-form copy, automatic-renewal acknowledgment, and
  landlord/service contact. §
  8-208
  and §
  8-210
  (accessed 2026-07-29).
• Md. Code, Real Prop. §§ 3-101, 3-102, 3-203, and 4-101 — seven-year
  recording structure, memorandum, constructive notice, priority, and express
  no-acknowledgment lease sufficiency. §
  3-101,
  §
  3-102,
  and §
  4-101
  (accessed 2026-07-29).
• Md. Code, Com. Law §§ 21-102, -104, -106, -107, and -110 — electronic
  scope/exclusion, separate consent, writing/signature equivalence, retainable
  delivery, and electronic acknowledgment. Official §
  21-102
  (accessed 2026-07-29).