How to Complete and Submit the Baltimore County New Tenant Notification Form

The Baltimore County New Tenant Notification Form is a one-page disclosure that a landlord and a new tenant both sign to confirm the tenant received required safety information about the rental. You give a signed copy to the tenant and return the original to the Department of Permits, Approvals, and Inspections as part of your rental registration packet.¹ The form itself is short, but it references lead paint, carbon monoxide, and smoke detector obligations that need to be in order before the tenant signs.

Which Version of the Form You Need

There are two versions. Properties with six or fewer dwelling units use the standard New Tenant Notification Form. Buildings with seven or more units use the Multifamily New Tenant Information Form, which is included in the lease package rather than returned with a small-property registration.¹ Both are free PDF downloads on the county’s rental registration page. Short-term rentals do not use the form at all.

What to Have Ready Before You Sign

The form’s certification statement says the tenant has received and reviewed the information referenced on it.² That means the underlying items need to actually exist and be handed over. Get these in place first:

A current lead inspection certificate if the property was built before 1978. Acceptable types are Lead-Free, Limited Lead-Free, or Full Risk Reduction, issued by an inspector accredited by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). Lead-Free and Limited Lead-Free properties are exempt from further compliance; all other pre-1978 rentals must pass the Full Risk Reduction lead dust test at every change in occupancy.³
Carbon monoxide alarms installed outside each sleeping area and on every level, including the basement.¹
Hardwired, battery-backed, interconnected smoke detectors on every level (excluding unoccupied attics, garages, and crawl spaces). Homes built on or after July 1, 2013, also need one inside each sleeping room. All alarms must come from the same manufacturer so interconnection works, and any unit 10 years or older based on the manufacture date must be replaced. If you can’t find the date, replace it.⁴
For pre-1978 rentals, three tenant handouts ready to deliver on or before move-in day: the MDE Notice of Tenants’ Rights, the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home,” and a copy of the current lead inspection certificate.³

If any of these are missing, the tenant’s signature won’t reflect reality, and the registration packet won’t clear inspection cleanly.

Filling Out the Form

The landlord or property manager fills in the property address, their own name, and signs and dates the top portion. The tenant fills in their name, unit number, email address, phone number, then signs and dates. The tenant’s signature line carries the certification: “By signing this form, I hereby certify that I have received and reviewed the above information.”²

The printed body of the form covers the lead paint, carbon monoxide, and tenant rights disclosures, so the tenant’s signature confirms they were informed of all of it, not just their own contact details. Give them time to actually read the form. Treating the signature as a formality defeats the purpose and leaves you exposed if a dispute comes up later.

When to Give It to the Tenant

Deliver the form and the accompanying safety documents before or at the time the tenant moves in. Maryland’s lead rules specifically require that the Notice of Tenants’ Rights, the EPA pamphlet, and the lead certificate be provided “on or before the day you move in.”⁵ Because the New Tenant Notification Form bundles those disclosures, presenting it at lease signing works well: the tenant can review everything before committing, and you have the signed form in hand well before the county needs it.

If a tenant refuses to sign, document the delivery attempt in writing. A signed form is the cleanest proof, but a dated record of what you provided still helps if the issue surfaces during an inspection.

Submitting the Form With Your Registration

The signed form does double duty. One copy stays with the tenant, and the original goes back to the county with your rental registration packet. The form’s printed instructions tell you to “review this form and return it with your rental registration packet” and to “provide a copy for the tenant to keep.”²

For properties with six or fewer units, the registration application also includes an inspection sheet completed by a Maryland-licensed home inspector and, if the building predates 1978, the lead inspection certificate.

For buildings with seven or more units, you file either a Self-Certification Rental Registration Affidavit (if there have been fewer than three code violations in the past three years) or a Multifamily Inspection Form covering at least 10 percent of units. The Multifamily New Tenant Information Form goes into every lease package rather than back to the county with each new tenant.¹

Registration and licensing have to be in place before a tenant moves in. The rental license itself runs three years from its effective date.⁶

Keeping Records

Hold onto a signed copy of the New Tenant Notification Form for every tenancy. County inspectors can request these during compliance checks, and the signed form is the simplest proof that you met your disclosure obligations. Federal lead disclosure rules separately require landlords to retain signed lead disclosures for at least three years after the lease begins.⁷ Keeping the county form through the full tenancy and for three years afterward covers both.

Note that the federal Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Rule is a separate paperwork obligation from the county form. For pre-1978 housing, landlords must disclose known lead-based paint hazards, provide any available inspection records, and include a Lead Warning Statement in the lease or as an attachment.⁷ The educational materials also have to be redistributed to existing tenants every two years.³

What Happens If You Skip It

Operating a rental in Baltimore County without a license carries a maximum fine of $1,000 per day. If it goes unpaid for 30 days, the fine becomes a lien on the property. Building code violations identified during inspection can carry separate fines of $200 or $500 per violation per day.⁸

The lead side has its own teeth. If a tenant requests a copy of the lead inspection certificate and you don’t provide it within three business days, the tenant can go to District Court to break the lease and recover up to $2,500 in relocation expenses plus attorney’s fees.⁵ For questions on the form or the registration process, the Baltimore County Rental Registration office can be reached at 410-887-6060.⁶

1
Baltimore County Government. Register or Renew Your Rental Property
2
Baltimore County Government. New Tenant Notification Form
3
Maryland Department of the Environment. Rental Property Owner Requirements
4
Baltimore County Government. Rental License Inspection Sheet
5
Maryland Department of the Environment. Notice of Tenants’ Rights
6
Baltimore County Government. Rental Housing Registration
7
US EPA. Real Estate Disclosures about Potential Lead Hazards
8
FindLaw. DiCicco v. Baltimore County